CLEVELAND _ At times in Games 6 and 7 of the World Series, whether it be a botched fly ball or another batter striking out, the magnitude of the moment looked too big for the Indians.
But that shouldn't spoil the moment, or the magnitude of what they accomplished this season.
Tribe manager Terry Francona knew that before the Series concluded with an 8-7 10-inning loss Wednesday night at Progressive Field as the Chicago Cubs captured their first championship since 1908.
Francona realized how special this collection of Indians players was, how close they were, how resilient they were.
He managed the Red Sox to World Series victories in 2004 and 2007, and has learned it's not always that way, even when a team wins 94 games as the Indians did in 2016.
"This is one of the funnest _ I mean, win, lose or draw, our season's going to be over, unless some other country wants to take us on," Francona said. "And I'll be as tired as you can get after this, I will miss coming every day with this group because you get pretty close.
"No year is ever the same, even if a lot of the guys are, it's never quite the same. It's always a little different. And this group has been really extraordinary."
They showed how extraordinary Wednesday, battling back from a 5-1 deficit in the fifth inning to tie the game 6-6 in the eighth on Rajai Davis's two-run homer to left field.
But after a brief rain delay, the Cubs struck back in the 10th off reliever Bryan Shaw. Ben Zobrist doubled home the go-ahead run and two batters later Miguel Montero singled home what proved to be the game-winner. The loveable losers' 108-year drought was over.
For the Indians, the disappointing outcome can't diminish what they shared this season.
After they claimed the American League Central Division title, after every clincher en route to the Indians' first World Series appearance since 1997, there weren't handshakes in the infield before they headed inside. Francona hugged each player, or in the case of Mike Napoli, Francona was bear-hugged and lifted.
The clenches got a little longer, the hugs a little tighter as the postseason progressed. The genuine feelings were palpable, even on television. For me those moments were the best part of the season.
Since no foreign countries will likely come calling, Francona ventured out of his office Wednesday, taking his favorite clubhouse game of cribbage "on the road." He wanted to gauge the temperature of the room, the level of the Indians' anxiety. But he surely wanted a few more minutes with them, too.
Most of the key pieces of the team, including the entire starting rotation, are locked up through at least 2018. The Indians have a big decision regarding the future of free agent Napoli. But seemingly the clubhouse could remain almost unchanged.
But Francona knows that's not true, even if most of the faces are the same. Their chemistry, their grit, their bond could be hard to hold on to.
They needed all that to survive injuries to starting pitchers Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco that would have derailed many teams' track to the World Series. They needed all that to thrive without their most consistent player, outfielder Michael Brantley, limited to 11 games by two shoulder surgeries, and twice-injured catcher Yan Gomes. They needed all that to record 11 walk-off victories by nine different players.
They were underdogs in every round of the playoffs, yet eliminated the Red Sox and Blue Jays. They took a 3-1 World Series lead over the Cubs, winners of 103 games in the regular season, before the Cubs' bats finally awakened and the Indians' clutch hitting and aggressive base-running failed them. Even when they had one more rally in them, the Cubs' talented lineup proved too much.
Even so, all must remember that few teams could have fought through such adversity and come within one victory of a championship.
Francona surely didn't sense that three consecutive Cubs victories were on the horizon when he spoke before Game 4 in Wrigley Field. That would be the last night they celebrated together after a 7-2 triumph.
"I don't think you have to come to a moment in the season where your team is special," Francona said Saturday. "I don't think you have to have the stamp of a World Series on your team to feel that way.
"Sometimes things happen you can't overcome. They've done a really good job of overcoming a lot. But if it got to a point where it was too much, that wouldn't take away how I feel about them."
After Game 7, those words sounded prophetic.
But Wednesday's heart-breaking ending shouldn't diminish the thrills the Indians delivered _ the "Party at Napoli's" homers, Tyler Naquin's inside-the-park home run, Jose Ramirez running so hard to first base that he regularly lost his batting helmet. It shouldn't overshadow all they accomplished since Carrasco was injured on Sept. 17, or after Trevor Bauer cut his pinkie in a drone accident just before the American League Championship Series.
If you had told me on that cold, postponed Opening Day in Cleveland that the Indians would reach Game 7 of the World Series without Brantley, Carrasco and Salazar, I might have laughed. Yet it turned out to be one of the most special seasons in Indians history, one of the closest teams.
One Francona will never forget. Neither should we.
