October 24, 2016 CSNChicago.com Jon Lester Says Cubs Haven’t Done Anything Yet: ‘Nobody Likes Second Place’ By Patrick Mooney As Cubs players and generations of fans celebrated Christmas in October, Jon Lester had to be The Grinch for a moment. Sure, the Cubs would party from Saturday night into Sunday morning, probably get “a little bit” drunk and enjoy the franchise’s first National League pennant in 71 years. But the reality of the Cleveland Indians would set in once the Cubs got rid of this hangover. “We ain’t done anything yet,” Lester said during the Wrigley Field celebration after the Cubs eliminated the Los Angeles Dodgers. “Nobody likes second place.” There are enough Boston Red Sox connections in this World Series that Lester already knows what to expect, starting with Indians manager Terry Francona, who became a father figure as he dealt with a cancer scare as a rookie. There are ex-teammates from those championship teams in 2007 (Coco Crisp) and 2013 (Mike Napoli, Andrew Miller) at Fenway Park. There is the accumulated experience from throwing 119 postseason innings (2.50 ERA) and becoming one of the best big-game pitchers of his generation. “I don’t want to sound like a smart-ass, but we got a long ways to go,” Lester said. “I know that manager on their side’s going to be prepared. I know their coaching staff’s going to be ready. I know their players are going to be ready, just based on one player alone, and that’s Mike Napoli. I know what he brings to the table. He helped transform our 2013 team. “Come Tuesday, we got to put the gloves back on. We got to get ready to fight and grind and do what we’ve done well all year. We got four more games to win.” After limiting the Dodgers to two runs in 13 innings, and being named the NL Championship Series’ co-MVP along with Javier Baez, Lester should be a worthy Game 1 starter opposite Corey Kluber, the 2014 American League Cy Young Award winner. This is why Lester took a leap of faith with Cubs bosses/ex-Red Sox executives Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer and chairman Tom Ricketts’ family and what had been a last-place team in 2014. Two seasons into the $155 million contract that signaled the Cubs would be serious about contending – and not just in the Baseball America/Baseball Prospectus prospect rankings – the franchise has won 200 games and four playoff rounds and remained in position to dominate for years to come. “Theo and Jed and the front office and Tom and all these guys had a belief,” Lester said. “I believed in that belief. The talent here speaks for itself. I didn’t do anything – I came here because I wanted to win in Chicago. I’m just happy to be here and be a part of this and get to this point. “(But) we’re four hard wins away from doing what we set out to do in spring training.” As bright as the future looks on the North Side, Lester will be 33 next season and his left arm has already accounted for more than 2,000 innings during his decorated career. John Lackey turned 38 on Sunday. Jake Arrieta only has one more season before becoming a free agent.

The Cubs built their franchise around young hitters, with the idea that they can figure out the pitching later with free agents, change-of-scenery trades and bounce-back guys. Easier said than done. They have a true No. 1 starter now in Lester, who as a free agent watched a recruiting video that imagined what it would be like when the Cubs win the World Series. “This isn’t it,” Lester said. “It’s been a tough playoffs for us to this point and it’s only going to get tougher. We’re going to enjoy it. We’re going to show up Tuesday in Cleveland ready to play. We’ll see what happens.” -- CSNChicago.com When It Happens: Albert Almora Jr. In Right Place At Right Time With Cubs By Patrick Mooney Of course, Albert Almora Jr. rooted for the Cubs during last year’s playoffs, but he still felt this nagging sense that he might miss out on something truly special, the same fear/motivation that drives everyone around this team: Not being there for the end of the drought that began in 1908 – and the parade down Michigan Avenue and the biggest party Chicago will ever see. Growing up in the Miami area, Almora had always played up against older kids, facing elite year-round competition in the Florida sunshine and becoming a fixture for Team USA while still staying true to his family’s Cuban roots. He remembers being 12 and getting invited to play center field in a tournament with 18-year-olds. Concussions shortened Almora’s 2015 season at Double-A Tennessee, part of a series of injuries that stalled his development while first-round picks Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber turned the beginning of their careers into rocket launches. But even as a 22-year-old rookie, Almora earned enough of manager Joe Maddon’s trust to start Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, and stay on the Wrigley Field outfield grass until the final out of Saturday’s 5-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Cubs winning the franchise’s first pennant since 1945. “I was there when they first introduced ‘When It Happens,’” said Almora, the first player Theo Epstein’s regime drafted here with the sixth overall pick in 2012. “It’s something that – not just myself – but everybody that has come up through the minor-league system has really gone by. They (brought that mentality) into our locker room. It’s definitely scripted in our head. And we’re confident that it will happen.” Whatever happens next, this has already been a whirlwind year for Almora, who made his big-league debut in early June, got married to Krystal on an off-day in late July, got sent back down to Triple-A Iowa the next day and now has a newborn son, Ayden John. The young family celebrated together at Wrigley Field late Saturday night, while Almora’s father stayed home in South Florida as he battles prostate cancer. “My dad’s still grinding,” Almora said. “It’s in God’s hands right now. He’s positive. We’re positive.” Albert Sr. is the type of passionate baseball fan who watched that classic divisional-round game against the San Francisco Giants – the one where Conor Gillaspie drove Aroldis Chapman’s 102-mph fastball into the right-center field gap at AT&T Park – and then asked his son: How come you didn’t catch that ball? “I told him: ‘Listen, Dad, if I didn’t get that ball, I don’t think anybody can,’” Almora said. That’s the kind of confidence and Gold Glove potential that drew Epstein’s scouting department to Almora, the sense of swagger Maddon’s coaching staff and the clubhouse veterans help bring out of these young players. Nervous? Anxious? This is “Try Not To Suck-tober.”

“You got to give it up to these fans,” Almora said. “They make it seem like a playoff atmosphere, day in and day out here. I felt comfortable, to be honest with you. “I felt like it was just another game for me. You get your butterflies. You get your heart and your adrenaline pumping. And then once that first pitch is thrown, you’re like: ‘All right, back to normal. Let’s do it.’” The Cubs have the best team in baseball on paper this year, and arguably the game’s best collection of young talent. As much as Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday night at Progressive Field might feel like the beginning of something, the Cubs aren’t taking the Cleveland Indians or this opportunity for granted. “We’re still not done yet,” Almora said. “We got four more.” -- CSNChicago.com Kerry Wood On Cubs World Series Berth: 'More Emotional Than I Thought It Was Gonna Be' By Tony Andracki Kerry Wood couldn't resist a 5 Outs joke. The iconic Cubs pitcher was a huge part of that 2003 team that famously came just five outs from the World Series before a Game 6 meltdown in the National League Championship Series. As if to toy with history and laugh in its face, Joe Maddon made the five outs drama last even longer Saturday night. Kyle Hendricks gave up a one-out single in the eighth inning with the Cubs up five and Maddon came out to make a pitching change. Of course, it all turned out just fine. The Cubs went on to win and silence any talk of curses or jinxes and made Steve Bartman and that 2003 just another chapter in history. "I was good once we got past five outs away," Wood joked with reporters outside the champagne-soaked Cubs clubhouse about 90 minutes after the Cubs clinched a trip to the World Series for the first time in 71 years. "These guys got to experience what we didn't get to experience. We got to play in this game, we just didn't get to celebrate after. Obviously extremely happy for the city. These guys have cemented themselves in history and they're gonna be linked forever. "It's just great. We got four more to go and it's the right group to go with." Wood said he "felt" it coming to the game, predicting with his buddies that the Cubs would jump on Clayton Kershaw and score on him early in the game. The Cubs scored twice in the first, once in the second and then added on with solo tallies in the fourth and fifth innings off Kershaw. "They don't listen to the history," Wood said. "It doesn't bother them. These guys come out and seem unaffected by the history. So, obviously, we're in a good place we haven't been in a long time. It's a great night. "It's mind-blowing. Being out there with the crowd, it's such a cool experience." Wood pitched 12 seasons for the Cubs, but if you include the year he missed for injury (1999) and the time he's worked for the organization since retirement in 2012, he's spent nearly two decades on the North Side of Chicago.

So when he saw the Cubs record their final out and put history in the rearview mirror, Wood was overcome with emotion. "Surprisingly a bit more than I was expecting," he said. "Just watching the guys do their thing on the field and celebrate. [MLB chief baseball officer] Joe Torre's talking and tryin to do his thing and the guys just split up and spread out and went and saw the fans - which is exactly what they should've done. "It's a little more emotional than I thought it was gonna be." Wood said he really started believing it was all possible when Addison Russell and Anthony Rizzo woke up with the bats in Game 4 in Los Angeles and the Cubs looked like they got their mojo back. He also marveled at the team's youth and how poised they were throughout the entire season, especially in the face of adversity. "I don't think [the weight of history affected them]," Wood said. "That's the key. And not saying it affected us. I don't think it affected us either. We'd go out there and play the game. "S--t, half these guys weren't born when this stuff was going on. It's great. They got a young group and I think Joe leads them in the right direction and doesn't let them get caught up in the off-the-field stuff. It's just a great combination top to bottom." Wood threw out the first pitch before the historic Game 6 Saturday night, wearing a Ron Santo jersey. Three hours later, he was still wearing the jersey, even celebrating with fans: And he plans right on wearing the No. 10 jersey for at least another week. "Ronnie didn't get to see this," Wood said of Santo, who died in 2010. "He didn't get to witness this night. Definitely going to wear it all the way through. Hopefully that will let him experience it a little bit with me. "I expect big things and I'll see you guys in Cleveland." -- CSNChicago.com The Moment Billy Williams Knew The 2016 Cubs Were Destined For The World Series By Tony Andracki Billy Williams will finally get to witness the Cubs in the World Series. The enormity of that statement hasn't even quite set in for Wrigleyville yet. Standing on the left field grass about a half hour after the Cubs made history, Williams looked around at the 43,000 people still left in Wrigley Field and predicted people would be partying until 5 or 6 a.m. The streets around Wrigley looked like a tornado ripped through it at 5 a.m., though the partying had quieted down quite a bit. Fans are pacing themselves for the final week of October that will prove to be unlike anything Chicago has ever seen before. Somewhere, Williams is probably still trying to wrap his head around it all. "I can't believe it," he said. "This is really, really something. "Standing on the field here, standing on this sacred ground, celebrating - it's a great feeling. It is a great feeling."

Williams played 16 seasons with the Cubs and hit 426 homers while winning the Rookie of the Year Award in 1961 and earning six trips to the All-Star Game. He's spent his retirment years around the Cubs, following the team from spring training to the biggest moment Wrigley Field has ever seen Saturday night. The 78-year-old shared with reporters the moment he knew this 2016 Cubs team was something special. Williams admitted he never thought he'd see the day the Cubs would go to the World Series until the 2015 team put together 97 wins and knocked the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals out of the postseason before running into the New York Mets in the NLCS. But he also thought that experience was invaluable for the young players and when he saw Dexter Fowler's surprise return to the team in spring training, something clicked for the Cubs legend. "I love the fact that Dexter Fowler came back to play center field. 'You go, we go,'" Williams said, referencing Joe Maddon's phrase for Fowler's impact at the top of the order. "So [Jason] Heyward went back out to right field and all of sudden, our ball club is completely solid. "I saw that in Arizona when Dexter came back in spring training and the guys saw him and he said, 'Hey man, good to be back.' "And it was a tight-fit ballclub from that point on. They played well and they played for each other. And you see how it went all year." -- CSNChicago.com World Series Drought Will Soon End For Cubs Or Indians By Dan Hayes In no more than 10 days, one of baseball’s longest-suffering fan bases will feel anguish no more. Decades of torment, missed opportunities and bitter disappointment will be erased when either the Cubs or the Cleveland Indians clinch a championship in the 112th World Series, which begins on Tuesday night at 7:08 p.m. CST. Neither franchise has emerged victorious from the Fall Classic for a combined 174 years, the largest drought in World Series history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Cubs last won the World Series in 1908 while the Indians haven’t been crowned champion since 1948. The previous record of 130 combined years was set in 2005 by the White Sox (87 years between titles) and Houston Astros (43). “Cleveland is deserving of the World Series, too, so this is going to be a classic, two cities that have been in a long drought,” first baseman Anthony Rizzo said late Saturday. “This is really good for baseball. “It’s going to be amazing.” The Cubs already have ended one longstanding drought with their victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series. By reaching the World Series, the Cubs ended the longest stretch without a championship round appearance among franchises in the four major North American sports. Despite making the postseason seven times in the previous 31 years, the Cubs haven’t been to the World Series since 1945. Courtesy of last week’s American League Championship Series victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, the Indians are making the seventh trip to the World Series in franchise history. The Indians haven’t won the World Series in 67 years despite three previous appearances: they were swept by the New York Giants in 1954, lost to the Atlanta

Braves in six games in 1995 and suffered a heart-breaking defeat in seven games against the then-Florida Marlins in 1997. “What could be better for baseball?” Cubs owner Tom Ricketts said. “We’re real excited. I have a lot of friends from Cleveland. I have a lot of respect for the Cleveland Indians organization. I’m anxious to get there.” Though they’re ecstatic to be where they are, Cubs players continue to echo the sentiment that their mission isn’t yet complete. They’re not oblivious to what their fans have endured, the decades of suffering and generations who have come and gone without ever seeing a trophy. But rather than worry about the franchise’s agonizing past, veteran utility man Ben Zobrist said players must remain focused on the present. “There’s a lot of pent up angst and emotion in this city, really all over the nation, Cubs fans that have been loyal through the years,” Zobrist said. “We know that. But the bottom line is you have to execute at the right time and stay here in 2016. These guys have done it all year long with all the expectations on our backs and we only have four more. We’re in the exact spot we wanted to be in and we have a chance to do something that hasn’t been done in 108 years.” -- Chicago Tribune Cubs clinching pennant changed mindset that has been around far too long By David Haugh A funny thing happened during the ninth inning Saturday at Wrigley Field in the Cubs' epic 5-0 victory over the Dodgers to clinch the National League pennant. Not funny strange like a "Cubbie occurrence" but funny ha-ha, as in it caused more chuckles than concerns, which was a significant development in the life of a Cubs fan. With one out, the baseball gods decided to see how committed Cubdom really was to this new way of thinking at Clark and Addison. Dodgers catcher Carlos Ruiz lifted a foul ball down the left-field line in the vicinity of where Steve Bartman was sitting during Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series. Unlike that fateful night, nothing occurred except for some cathartic laughter throughout the ballpark as the memory of Moises Alou's reaction quickly came and went. That was 13 Octobers ago — which might as well be the Dead Ball era considering how vastly different everything about the Cubs is now. Saturday's game ended three pitches later when Yasiel Puig grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, setting off a celebration that completed the metamorphosis. The Cubs not only clinched the pennant. They changed a mindset. Reaching the World Series for the first time since 1945 made the expectation of failure extinct for an organization steeped in it. When a franchise traditionally all but embraces the label of lovable losers, a winning culture becomes more difficult to develop. But amid all the spraying champagne and dancing Cubs players Saturday night, it officially took hold. Goodbye, doom and gloom. Hello, happy thoughts. In five years, President Theo Epstein successfully undid decades' worth of damage to the Cubs brand, systematically reprogramming a front office and a fan base so that gradually the recognizable red "C" has come to symbolize only success — no longer futility. Hiring manager Joe Maddon and his library of mantras before the 2015 season only reinforced the positive vibe that had begun to buzz. Nobody rolls their eyes anymore at the suggestion of the Cubs going all the way or relies on their reputation for losing as a punch line. The reality is, the perception of the Cubs shifted dramatically at 9:45 p.m., Oct. 22, 2016, the second first baseman Anthony Rizzo squeezed the ball to record the final out of Game 6. As much as it would create another level of local ecstasy if the Cubs beat the Indians, it doesn't necessarily require a World Series title for new mentality to take hold.

With these Cubs and this regime, the inevitable no longer sounds like a threat now that they have broken through the first barrier. Calling something Cub-like no longer is considered an insult. A sense of anticipation has replaced a feeling of dread involving all things Cubs. Example: In the old days, hearing Kyle Schwarber could be available for the World Series after his surgically repaired knee received medical clearance might have induced fears of Schwarber reinjuring the knee against the Indians. Now, with Chicagoans conditioned to the Cubs making sound decisions with a flair for drama, nobody will be surprised if Schwarber starts against the Indians in Game 1 Tuesday night and hits a home run. Another example: After the Dodgers shut out the Cubs in back-to-back games to take a 2-1 lead in the NLCS, Epstein said something in a matter-of-fact tone that resonated. "We need to wake up and be ourselves,'' Epstein said. In the past, a Cubs team being itself in October would scare the Old Style out of fans. The thought of this Cubs team being itself provided reassurance. These aren't your grandfather's Cubs or even your father's. The frame of reference when discussing the Cubs playoffs no longer is 1969 or 1984 or 2003, or any other tortured season. On Saturday, it instantly became 2016, the year every Cubs fan stopped covering their eyes during close playoff games. The year belief evicted doubt in the minds and hearts of North Siders everywhere. The year everyone from Wrigley's box seats to the bleachers stopped worrying about leaving postseason games emotionally scarred. No longer will the Cubs having success at this level feel apocalyptic as much as expected. The other shoe to drop will be one that kicks the Cubs in the butt and provides a winning edge. Months like this one already have begun to be viewed as the rule rather than the exception. Nights like Saturday will come again. This is what happens in the making of a baseball dynasty, the word that best describes what the Cubs are on the verge of building. Maddon himself marveled at the youth he penciled into the Cubs lineup for Game 6 to face Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw. Four starters were 24 years old or younger. "You look from (Javier) Baez to (Willson) Contreras, (Addison) Russell and (Albert) Almora, that would be somebody's Triple-A team just based on experience and age,'' Maddon said. That also would be everybody's 2016 National League champions, a team easier than ever to believe in after overcoming adversity against the Giants and Dodgers. The Cubs Way that Epstein and Maddon instilled involves expecting good things from a group with growing confidence, and the World Series is no time to stop doing that. Cubs in five. -- Chicago Tribune Little time for rest as Cubs prepare to face Indians in World Series By Mark Gonzales Outside the champagne- and beer-drenched clubhouse, Kerry Wood was asked late Saturday night about the magnitude of the Cubs' National League pennant celebration outside Wrigley Field. "Go look at Clark Street," Wood, the former Cubs pitching great, said after Cubs earned their first World Series berth since 1945. "That tells you all you need to know. "It's long-deserved. I hope they all enjoy it not too much. We've got another series left." The Cubs' full focus shifted to beating the American League champion Indians in the World Series shortly after the early Sunday morning celebration.

The biggest decision involves whether Kyle Schwarber will be deemed ready to play and fill the important role of designated hitter for Games 1 and 2 (and 6 and 7, if necessary) at Progressive Field in Cleveland. "We're really close," Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta said. "We know that. We're one of two teams standing. "There's a long way to go. It's going to be a tough series. Those guys can really play. It's a different dynamic playing in their ballpark with the DH." Schwarber, who hasn't played in a major-league game since tearing ligaments in his left knee April 7, was expected to play Sunday in a simulated game that could determine whether his timing at the plate and his knee are sound enough to face the Indians. The Cubs don't have a deep on-field familiarity with the Indians. In their last matchup, Game 1 probables Jon Lester and Corey Kluber matched masterpieces in a 2-1 Cubs victory decided on a walk-off home run by then-rookie Kris Bryant. But the landscape has changed dramatically to the point where the Indians are well-rested following their cruise through the AL playoffs, and the Cubs have ascended from NL wild-card wannabes to World Series crusaders. The left-handed-hitting Schwarber could give the Cubs lineup a spark, simply because of the Indians' right-handed dominant pitching staff. But some of that is offset by the presence of left-handed game-changing reliever Andrew Miller, who has struck out 21 while walking none and allowing only five hits in 11 2/3 postseason innings. Adding Schwarber would test the Cubs' depth, since Schwarber is wearing a protective brace on his left knee and would be relegated to pinch-hitting duty when the Series switches to Wrigley for Games 3, 4 and 5. Another factor is coping with the Indians' blend of power (185 home runs) and speed (134 stolen bases). It could mean rookie catcher Willson Contreras gets more starts, although Miguel Montero lends balance with his left-handed bat. But from the big hits of Contreras and all-around excellence of Javier Baez, the more seasoned Cubs aren't afraid of the youngsters suffering stage fright. "You have some old guys sprinkling in there that contribute every once in a while," said Lester, who shared NLCS most valuable player honors with Baez. "It's been unbelievable to be a part of. "But this isn't it. We've made it to the World Series, but we've still got a little way to go." -- Chicago Tribune Let's hear it for unsung Cubs heroes: From Jim Hendry to Steve Goodman By Paul Sullivan Hundreds of individuals deserve credit for the Cubs' success, from Chairman Tom Ricketts, whose decision to bring in Theo Epstein as president changed the course of the franchise, to the front-office personnel, scouts and coaches Epstein brought in over the years. The players, of course, are the main reason, but they realize they couldn't have done it without being surrounded by the right people. "I look at it as Theo, (general manager Jed Hoyer), the front office and Tom had a belief," Jon Lester said during Saturday's pennant-clinching celebration on the field. "And I believe in that belief."

As the Cubs prepare for their first World Series game in 71 years on Tuesday night in Cleveland, a doff of the chapeau goes out to everyone involved. But there were others who made contributions along the way, whether big, like signing NLCS co-MVP Javier Baez, or small, like providing the soundtrack to the Cubs' party. Here are a few of those unsung contributors. Jim Hendry, former general manager: Hendry changed the mindset of Cubs fans, making them settle for nothing less than winning. In the end it worked against him, but the Cubs won division titles under Hendry in 2003, '07 and '08, the most of any GM in franchise history. Not being able to win it all hurt Hendry's image, and mistakes like the Milton Bradley signing overshadowed deft signings like Willson Contreras. Hendry takes no credit and harbors no bitterness as to how he was treated by Cubs fans at the end. "We really thought we could've won it in '03 and '04, and then we of course took a different path with the club going on sale in '07 and '08," Hendry said. "I felt like if we didn't do it by '09, it was going to be hard, that things were going to have to change economically. So I don't look at it like 'Oh, poor me,' but that we had two or three real good runs at it, did well and didn't get over the hump. They will now, and I think they're going to be the best team in the game for a few years." Tim Wilken, former scouting director: Wilken was the one who decided to draft Baez in 2011, when some thought Baez could not be harnessed. "If Tim Wilken would've wanted to take somebody else, that's who we would've taken," Hendry said. "That's the way you did it back them. It's changed now. GMs are more involved in the draft than they used to be. That's the way I learned, so Tim kept me posted." Tim Buss, strength coach: Buss has been around forever, but manager Joe Maddon let him do whatever was necessary to keep the team loose. Buss was central to the wacky spring training skits and gets players to bond with his group "kumbaya" encounters before games. If you can't laugh at yourself once in a while, you're probably a lousy player. Buss keeps everyone laughing. Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam frontman: Pearl Jam's concerts at Wrigley added to the team's revenue. The more money the Cubs had, the more they were able to spend on drafting and signing players. Like Hendry, Vedder declined to take any credit. "Absolutely not," he said with a laugh. "I contributed a big hole in center field that one of our guys stepped (in)." Well, perhaps one concert helped sign a free agent? "I'm maybe responsible for like, two Aroldis Chapman fastballs," Vedder said. "I'll take that. That'd be great. Every little bit. Whatever I can do." Dave Knickerbocker, Banner Collective founder: During a seminar at the 2009 Cubs Convention, former director of sales Matt Wszolek asked fans if they wanted a jumbo-sized video board at Wrigley Field. The crowd roundly booed him, and he quickly told them no plan was in place. The Cubs did not mention installing video boards during their initial discussions of the Wrigley renovation plan, apparently believing there would be some backlash. There was a little, but not much. After an inconsistent first year of the video board in 2015, the Cubs figured it out in 2016. Knickerbocker's creative pregame and in-game videos were a big reason why. The videos helped pump up the crowds during the postseason, and it's hard to imagine Wrigley Field without the video board now.

Dante the Don, Wrigley Field DJ: Anthony Rizzo brought the Wrigley DJ into the clubhouse to do his thing during the postgame celebration. The post-win party is central to the Cubs players' state of mind. "When you get the celebration music, it's always better to get someone who knows how to play the music, rather than just having the full song playing," Rizzo explained. Whether you like the music "the Don" played or not, the players wanted a soundtrack for their victories, and he created the groove. Steve Goodman, late folk singer: "Go Cubs Go" may not have been Goodman's greatest song, and some find it annoying. Kids, however, love it, perhaps because it's catchy and easy to learn. When the entire ballpark sang "Go Cubs Go" after the Game 6 victory Saturday, it was almost as if Goodman wrote it for that specific moment. -- Chicago Tribune Jason Hammel, Matt Szczur not playing but feel like part of Cubs' success By Paul Skrbina l work and no play hardly has made Jason Hammel and Matt Szczur dull boys. Both played all season with the Cubs, only to be left off the postseason roster for the division and league championship series. Szczur still has found a way to play a role in the team's playoff success. His lumber has been credited for waking Anthony Rizzo from his postseason offensive slumber. His compression underpants were given the same due when Addison Russell began wearing them the day he suddenly starting hitting again. Szczur, a backup outfielder, hit .261 as a pinch hitter this season and .259 with five home runs and 24 RBIs overall. Hammel won a career-high 15 games and had a 3.83 ERA in 30 starts. He made potato chips famous again when he said this season he ate them to help keep him hydrated. Both men still will get dressed for work for every World Series game, whether they're on the roster or not. Both still will go about their regular pregame routines, just as they did during the first two rounds. But with Kyle Schwarber's possible return from injury, the likelihood of either playing again this year seems slim. "During the game I feel like I'm way more nervous now than when I'm playing because I can't do anything to help the team," Szczur said. "I'm kind of handcuffed. I walk around and my stomach is in knots. These are my guys; I want to be out there, though." But he understands why he hasn't been. Hammel too. This isn't the first time the right-hander has been left off a postseason roster on a team managed by Joe Maddon. Hammel was an odd man out during the 2008 postseason when he watched from the sideline as the Rays advanced to the World Series. "Obviously we want to be out there, but I wouldn't say it's frustrating," Hammel said. "It's quite entertaining to watch the guys go and do their business. … If we're called upon, we'll be ready."

Hammel said Maddon told him before the division series he wouldn't be on the roster and to stay ready. Hammel wasn't surprised when he had no such talk with Maddon before the championship series. "It's not like the season's over," he said. "You still feel like you're a part of it; you want to be a little more a part of it. We'd be home sitting on our couch if we really didn't matter." Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant said he felt compassion for his teammates, who have become cheerleaders with good seats. "Everybody wants to play," Bryant said. "It stinks that there's only 25 people (on the roster). … It's a business. It's a decision they have to make and we have to live with. "They haven't changed anything. Their attitude is the same as it's always been." And there hasn't been a dull moment as far as Hammel and Szczur are concerned. -- Chicago Tribune Jon Lester was most nervous Cubs player despite not pitching Saturday By Mark Gonzales Jon Lester responded exceptionally well to the pressure of pitching in Games 1 and 5 of the National League Championship Series, but he admitted to the jitters while watching Game 6 from the dugout. "Nerve-wracking," Lester said of the Cubs' 5-0 victory Saturday night over the Dodgers. "It's actually easier to pitch in these games than to sit in the dugout. I was running back and forth, spending most of my time in the locker right there. I get too nervous for my guys. I want my guys to do well. "I'm probably more nervous than anyone on this field." Lester shared NLCS most valuable player honors with second baseman Javier Baez in becoming the first co-MVPs since Rob Dibble and Randy Myers of the Reds in 1990. Turning the page: Former Cubs great Kerry Wood had an emotional reaction Saturday night as he watched the Cubs win the franchise's first NL pennant since 1945. "A little bit more (emotional) than I was expecting," Wood said. "Just watching the guys do their thing on the field and celebrating. ... Guys split up and saw the fans, which is what they should have done." Wood, 39, had an interesting perspective of the final two innings. "I was good once we got past five outs away," said Wood, referring to the Cubs' meltdown in Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS following the Steve Bartman incident. "Once we got past that, I was great. You could feel it. I told somebody we're going to get four (runs) on Clayton Kershaw by the third inning. We didn't quite do that, but those guys came out hot." No animals allowed: Cubs Hall of Famer Billy Williams marveled over the players' ability to ignore talk of curses and collapses. "We knew about that goat, and in 1969 with the black cat," Williams recalled. "I think these individuals didn't worry about that. You've got a bunch of young guys. Go in the clubhouse and see what they worry about. The right music is all — loud." Williams reminisced about the fans' loyalty and sudden reward with last season's NL wild-card berth.

"All of a sudden, this is a great reward for them. ... The guys have been playing outstanding, and this is icing on the cake. But we have one more hurdle to go. I think the players are not satisfied. They want to go farther." Extra innings: Kyle Hendricks improved to 26-0 when getting three or more runs of support. ... Anthony Rizzo became the first left-handed hitter to hit a home run off Clayton Kershaw in 166 batters faced. Daniel Murphy of the Mets was the last to do it in Game 4 of the 2015 NLDS. ... After a 2-for-32 (.063) start in the NLCS, the Cubs' 3-4-5 batters hit .371 in their final three games. -- Chicago Sun-Times For Theo Epstein, the writing was on the wall for a career path By Rick Morrissey In 1993, a 19-year-old sportswriter for Yale’s student newspaper wrote that the school’s long-time football coach should be fired. Considering the coach had won 10 Ivy League titles, it caused a stir. But the Bulldogs were on their way to a 3-7 season, the coach was at the tail end of his career and maybe it was time for a change. For the writer, though, the column wasn’t an example of heartfelt conviction so much as journalistic coin flip. “We had a meeting and decided one person would write backing the football coach and one would write saying to fire him,’’ Theo Epstein said. “It was a lesson in the way that the world of journalism sometimes works. It was an eye-opener for me. I regret it, and I’ve happily moved on.’’ He might have a future in this whole baseball thing. Under the direction of their president of baseball operations, the Cubs are headed to the World Series for the first time since 1945. Epstein took a wrecking ball to the organization when he was hired in 2011, rebuilt it over three painful seasons and here the Cubs are, with the chance to win a championship for the first time since 1908. They face the Indians, starting Tuesday in Cleveland. Epstein also did OK in a previous stop, winning two World Series with the Red Sox. Journalism’s loss, possibly. Baseball’s gain, definitely. “I realized I didn’t want to be a sportswriter when I was interning with the Orioles back in ’92, ’93, ’94,’’ Epstein said. “I did do a lot of media-relations stuff, and I saw that the life of a sportswriter is pretty lonely. You kind of work by yourself, sit there by yourself in the press box, go back to the hotel bar. Not to generalize.’’ No worries. I’ll be right back just as soon as I go kill myself. “I really do like working shoulder-to-shoulder with other people for a common goal,’’ he said, “but I really respect writing and respect sportswriters.’’ Nice recovery. Epstein isn’t a one-dimensional baseball savant, but he’s not sure if there’s another profession where his particular skill set would translate. Anybody looking for a man who sees the poetry in Javy Baez’ tagging ability at second base, knows how to negotiate a contract and understands that WAR is a stat, not a scourge? “I have a special connection with baseball,’’ he said. “I’ve been following it closely since I could walk, basically. Someone asked me, ‘Would you ever go work in football?’ I considered the question disrespectful to everyone who works in football. You build up a library of knowledge about players and plays and dynamics of the game that you can’t replicate. You can’t buy that. You can’t go buy a degree in it. “It’s why the best scouts are 70. It takes a long time to build that up. I’ve had 25 years in the game now, and I think that’s what contributes to doing well when I am doing well and not screwing something up – there’s a lot of both.

But there’s a lot of trial and error and a lot of experience – 25 years. I think that can be overlooked sometimes in the game.’’ He’s right. There’s a reason Supreme Court justices aren’t 30. Wisdom comes with age, though that doesn’t explain how Epstein became the Red Sox’ general manager at 28 in 2002. He’s smart, he can look a problem broadly and he hires good people. In 2014, he hired Joe Maddon to manage the Cubs, but that wasn’t his first meeting with the skipper. Epstein, along with current Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer, had interviewed Maddon for the Red Sox managerial position in 2003. The job went to Terry Francona, now the Indians manager. “What I remembered was the organization of the meeting, the well-thought-out component of the meeting,’’ Maddon said. “For example, they gave me maybe a list of 10 different items, and I had to list them in order of importance. For example, creating your lineup, handling your bullpen, talking to the press, empowering your coaching staff. I think those were four of the examples. And then you have to list them in the order which you think is the most important thing to do on a daily basis. I thought that was interesting. So, that was part of it. “And then just handling difficult moments. Certain player becomes difficult and he’s a star or got a great status, how do you deal with that? So you have to run by that potential scenario also. Another good question.’’ Several of the people who work with and for Epstein have called him the smartest guy in whatever room he’s in, which has always made me want to get Bill Gates in a room with Epstein to see if opinions would change. Epstein doesn’t like the “smartest guy’’ label. “I’ve hired a lot of people who are smarter than I am,’’ he said. “I don’t understand most of the stuff our analytics guy do, but I have a decent feel for how to hire them and how to apply it. But I couldn’t do that stuff. I’d probably have to go back to school for some of the math part of it.’’ There has been pushback from Epstein and Maddon against the perception that they are stats-driven geeks who leave no room in their computing for flesh and blood and emotion. Maddon even talked about it hours before the Cubs celebrated their pennant Saturday night at Wrigley Field. “Don’t forget about the heart, don’t forget about the mind, don’t forget about the motor that exists within the person,’’ he said. “That all matters when it comes to success.’’ When Epstein was the Padres’ director of player development in the mid-1990s, his office was situated between the offices of the scouting director and the head of analytics. Neither man liked each other, he said, but both liked Epstein. “When they let their guard down around me, they’d share how they viewed the game,’’ he said. “That’s where I got my perspective that the game is a little bit of both. The best moves that you make, the best evaluations make sense though the scouting director’s lens and also through the analytics guy’s lens. You take a little bit of both. That was a long time ago, before most organizations were thinking that way, and they are now. And that helped me get a little advantage.’’ Epstein can’t recall any writers calling for his firing in either Boston or Chicago, though he is quick to point out that the Sun-Times featured him walking on water before the 2012 season and later under the water when the season was over. But firing him? No, not yet anyway. And not anytime soon with the team he has built. He would like a do-over of that Yale column from 23 years ago, now that he’s older and wiser. But he also realizes the fallout from it was a learning experience. “The coach was pissed, and he brought it up in the press conference after the game,’’ he said. “It was uncomfortable, but you write something, you’ve got to back it up.’’ He’s got that right. It’s one of many things he has gotten right.

-- Chicago Sun-Times Kyle Schwarber doesn’t make trip to Cleveland — yet By Daryl Van Schouwen After his first game in more than 6½ months, Kyle Schwarber said he is in play for the Cubs’ World Series roster, although he didn’t travel with the team to Cleveland on Sunday night. Schwarber had the day off after playing in an Arizona Fall League game Saturday. World Series rosters must be set Tuesday morning. He was activated from the 60-day disabled list and went 0-for-3 with a walk. He drove a ball to the gap for an out in one of his at-bats. “It’s day-by-day,” Schwarber said Saturday. “It’s still up for grabs. We have to talk.” Schwarber, who was -medically cleared last Monday to hit and run the bases, is an ideal addition against an opponent with one potential left-handed starting pitcher, rookie Ryan Merritt, and one lefty reliever, Andrew Miller. It wasn’t immediately clear whom he would replace on the roster if he’s ready to play. Left-handed-hitting outfielder Chris Coghlan and defensively challenged Jorge Soler are possible candidates. Schwarber spent the last six months on the DL after he and center fielder Dexter Fowler collided in the outfield on the third day of the season. Schwarber seemed optimistic after his first game since April. He set a Cubs record last postseason with five homers. Starting rotations Indians manager Terry Francona said Sunday that 18-game winner Corey Kluber will start Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday in Cleveland. Trevor Bauer and Josh Tomlin are penciled in for Games 2 and 3, respectively. The order could change depending on how Bauer’s stitched-up right pinkie heals over the next few days. The wild card is All-Star right-hander Danny Salazar, who hasn’t pitched since he left a game Sept. 9 with a strained flexor in his right forearm. Salazar threw “really well,” Francona told reporters after Salazar’s side session Thursday at Progressive Field, and he was slated to throw a three-inning simulated game Sunday. Salazar might start Game 4, although soft-tossing lefty Merritt — who started and pitched 4⅓ scoreless innings in the Indians’ ALCS-clinching victory — might be a better bet. Merritt has 11 innings of major-league experience. For the Cubs, NLCS co-MVP Jon Lester is lined up for his third Game 1 start of the postseason. Jake Arrieta, who was scheduled to pitch Game 7 of the NLCS, likely would start Game 2. Kyle Hendricks and John Lackey are good bets to start Games 3 and 4, respectively, at Wrigley Field. Bartman connection Indians two-time All-Star second baseman Jason Kipnis was a student at Glenbrook North in 2003. How close to home did the Steve Bartman saga hit? Bartman lived on the same street as Kipnis, who went to school with Bartman’s sister. Kipnis is still friends with Glenbrook North and Duke basketball star Jon Scheyer, his old school chum who is an assistant coach at Duke.

Kipnis sprained his left ankle during the ALCS celebration when he stepped on Francisco Lindor’s foot. The injury isn’t believed to be serious, but Kipnis isn’t 100 percent healthy. -- Chicago Sun-Times Who has the edge in Cubs-Indians World Series? By Gordon Wittenmyer STARTING PITCHING: Cubs The Game 1 starters in the series — former Cy Young winner Corey Kluber and playoff ace Jon Lester — are equal and opposite reactors. But the deepest staff in the American League has been without two of its top three starters (Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar) since long before the playoffs began (though Salazar could return for the Series and possibly make a start). The Cubs’ four-man depth, including their own Cy Young winner (Jake Arrieta) and Kershaw-slayer Kyle Hendricks is why they’re making history. RELIEF PITCHING: Indians Baseball’s fourth-ranked bullpen during the season has been the backbone of the Indians’ 7-1 playoff run, led by the other lefty reliever the Cubs wanted from the Yankees: Andrew Miller (six scoreless appearances spanning 11‰ innings). The Cubs nabbed their own lefty closer from the Yankees (Aroldis Chapman) to strengthen the back end of their pen. But Miller has shown since his trade to Cleveland why he was the top reliever in the summer trade market. FIELDING: Cubs The Cubs are by far the majors’ best team at turning batted balls into outs, with Gold Glove-caliber players at four or more positions, including postseason breakout star Javy Baez at second base. The Indians have one of the best young shortstops in the game (Francisco Lindor) and overall are better than average. But the Cubs’ edge is clear. HITTING: Cubs Anchored by two MVP candidates in Bryant and Rizzo, the Cubs averaged five runs during the season and are the highest-scoring team of the postseason, including 23 runs in their last three games (that includes five against Clayton Kershaw in the NLCS clincher). And they might get an added boost if lefty slugger Kyle Schwarber returns to be the designated hitter against an Indians’ pitching staff that is predominantly right-handed. But it’s not a huge edge. The Indians have their own 30-homer pair in Carlos Santana and Mike Napoli, and a formidable 2-3 in the order in Glenbrook North’s Jason Kipnis and Lindor. MANAGING: Indians Joe Maddon, a three-time manager of the year, has done what no Cubs manager has done since Charlie Grimm. But for a guy with two World Series rings as a manager (Red Sox in 2004 and 2007) and who already has busted one curse, Terry Francona might be one of the more underrated managers in the game. This postseason, Francona has pushed all the right buttons with his bullpen to overcome significant obstacles with his rotation. INTANGIBLES: Indians The goat is dead. Schwarber could be a Cubs inspiration. Both teams are carrying generations-long anticipation into the Series (68 years since the last championship for the Indians; 108 for the Cubs). But two of Cleveland’s four pro-sports teams — the Cavaliers and the AHL’s Monsters — already won championships this year, and the Browns actually led in the fourth quarter of a game in September. Cleveland rocks the sports mojo in 2016. WITTENMYER’S PREDICTION: Cubs in 7 -- Chicago Sun-Times Cubs fan Kerry Wood saw big hits off Dodgers’ Kershaw coming By Steve Greenberg

Kerry Wood had this idea in his head as he made his way toward Wrigley Field for Saturday’s Game 6 of the National League Championship Series. The idea was a little out there. Or strangely naïve, for a former star pitcher who has been there, done that. Given the Cubs’ history of disappointment in October — and Wood’s own experience as the guy who tried, and failed, to clinch an NLCS in Game 7 in 2003 — it might even have been a bit brazen. Or just plain nuts. “I could feel it, though,” Wood said during the celebration in the Cubs clubhouse after Saturday’s 5-0 thrill-fest against the Dodgers. “Coming to the game, I told some buddies, ‘We’re going to get four runs on (Dodgers ace Clayton) Kershaw by the third inning.’ ” Four runs off the best pitcher in baseball — the same guy who didn’t let Cubs batters breathe in a dominant Game 2 performance — by the third inning? And what else were the Cubs going to do? Cure the common cold by the fifth? It’s not as if Wood was envisioning something unprecedented. Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young winner, gave up four runs in the first three innings precisely once all season. But once is a fluke. Once is a shot in the dark. Once is another way of saying: This basically never happens. Turns out Wood was wrong, anyway. The Cubs scored two in the first and one in the second, but none in the third. Still, they ended with five runs off Kershaw and chased him after five innings. Wood saw it coming, then sat in the stands and saw it happen. To Wood — the 1998 National League Rookie of the Year and the fastest major league pitcher to 1,000 strikeouts — it was a combination of a good offensive plan and some uncharacteristically shaky stuff from Kershaw. Dexter Fowler’s double to lead off the bottom of the first gave Wood the feeling Kershaw was on the ropes already. “Guys came out hot, with Fowler leading us off,” he said. “Obviously, Kershaw didn’t have his curveball and didn’t feel comfortable with his breaking stuff. It looked like we took advantage of that. It looked like we were sitting fastball and got him and put some runs on the board early.” The “we” word comes out often when Wood, 39, is speaking of the Cubs, with whom he spent all but two years of his big-league career. Fans remember him for his 20-strikeout game as a rookie, his electric arm talent, the heartbreak of 2003, the injuries that robbed him of his potential greatness. But what really lasts are the bonds made. For Wood, they were made with teammates, fans, the neighborhood, the city. He’s a Cubs fan, for crying out loud. “It’s amazing what this team has done,” he said, “what they’ve done for the city, for the organization. It was a mind-blowing experience being out there with the crowd and (the Cubs) doing it. “They’re such good guys, and they get the game. They get it, and they’re young and hungry — they want it. They don’t listen to the history. It doesn’t bother them.” Did we mention that one of the other teams Wood pitched for was the Cleveland Indians? It’s true. Wood was with the Cubs’ upcoming World Series foe in 2009 and part of 2010. His loyalties won’t be the least bit divided in the days to come.

-- Chicago Sun-Times Star relievers Chapman, Miller yanked into World Series By Gordon Wittenmyer The Cubs and the Indians? When you talk about the World Series, these franchises don’t exactly roll off the tongue with the same resonance as the Yankees. Or even without a smirk usually. But both teams bring a lot of Yankee-like swagger into this matchup, if only because of the key acquisitions each picked up from the Yankees before the trade-deadline. Three months after they were acquired for heavy hauls of prospects, lefty relievers Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman are on the biggest baseball stage of their lives and poised to play decisive roles in ending one team’s generations-long championship drought. “Both teams made aggressive trades to do that, and both teams are still standing,” Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said. “And there’s something to that. Miller’s been amazing for them, and their bullpen’s been great. And Tito has been aggressive deploying those guys, which has been really smart.” Tito, of course, is Indians manager Terry Francona, the first manager Cubs president Theo Epstein hired when he was a general manager in Boston. Hoyer was Epstein’s assistant then. Francona, who helped bust the Bambino curse in Boston in 2004 and then won another World Series in 2007, now goes after Cleveland’s first since 1948 and will try to keep the Cubs from winning their first since 1908. Hoyer said Francona set a tone for the Indians’ 7-1 run through the American League playoffs when he went to Miller in the fifth inning of a one-run game in Game 1 of the division series against Boston. Miller got the next six outs and earned the win. Miller, who has a 1.53 ERA for the Indians, has performed even better in the playoffs: six scoreless appearances with a save. Chapman has been a major weapon for the Cubs as well, though he hasn’t proven as versatile in as many roles for manager Joe Maddon. Chapman still prefers the standard ninth-inning save situation. Still, he has pitched in eight of the Cubs’ 10 postseason games, accounting for 24 outs with three saves and a 3.38 ERA. Miller figures to be one of the most important players to watch in the series if only for the fact that he is one of only two left-handers the Indians have had on their postseason roster. The other is rookie Ryan Merritt. In fact, as Francona looks for the ideal sequences to unleash Miller against the Cubs, watch for where Kyle Schwarber might fall into the sequence, assuming the Cubs add Schwarber to the World Series roster after he’d missed all but three games with a knee injury. Schwarber might be the biggest reason the Cubs don’t have both Miller and Chapman. The Cubs refused the Yankees’ insistent demands for Schwarber to be included in any deal for Miller. Now they might have to figure out a way to beat the lefty with 12 career scoreless playoff appearances. Miller has 31 strikeouts and three walks in 20 playoff innings. The key to navigating that, Hoyer said, is to take him out of the equation before it gets that far. “You’ve got to get an early lead and keep those guys off the mound,” Hoyer said.

Which brings the Cubs to Cleveland’s Cy Young ace, Corey Kluber. But that’s another story. -- Daily Herald For Chicago Cubs' Epstein, vision accomplished By Bruce Miles Four years ago to the day Sunday, Chicago Cubs president Theo Epstein met with a few of us media types. He wanted to move past the just-concluded 101-loss season and look to the future. "I actually walked around Wrigley the other day, this Sunday with my son, and saw the ivy was red, orange," Epstein said on Oct. 23, 2012. "I just kind of flashed to how great it would be to be playing baseball this time of year at Wrigley. That's the goal, to get there, but to get there in a way to get there year in and year out. "You can't help but look at what the Cardinals are doing and the Giants now and teams that are able to be factors in October year in and year out. You can't but look at that and understand that's the goal. "That's our goal." The Cubs' ultimate goal -- winning the World Series -- hasn't been reached yet, but they did something monumental Saturday night by winning their first National League pennant since 1945. They will try to win their first World Series title since 1908 beginning Tuesday night, when they open the World Series at Cleveland. The Indians have a world-championship drought of their own, dating to 1948. On Saturday night, with the ivy turning those colors Epstein mentioned four years ago, you couldn't blame him if those hues looked a little more vivid to him. The Cubs are appearing in their second straight postseason after getting swept in the National League championship series by the Mets last October. And they appear well on their way to achieving the goal set forth by Epstein, general manager Jed Hoyer and scouting/player-development chief Jason McLeod: building a foundation for sustained success. Getting to, let alone winning, the World Series nowadays is difficult to do, what with expanded playoffs and the random nature of the game of baseball itself. But the Cubs look to be in position to knock on the door every year for the foreseeable future. The plan undertaken by Epstein and his crew wasn't without pain. In addition to the 101 losses in 2012, the Cubs lost 96 games in 2013 and 89 in 2014. In those first three years, Wrigley Field was so quiet on some nights that a few of us in the press box likened it to a library. But it was nothing but happy noise Saturday, as the 42,386 fans inside Wrigley Field and the thousands more on the streets of Chicago partied well into the wee hours. The dark days of 2012, 2013 and 2014 seemed well in the rearview mirror. Epstein acknowledged those days were harder on the fans than they were on him.

"It wasn't all that painful; it was probably more painful for our fans," he said above the din Saturday night. "For us, there were some trying moments, but it was fun being focused on acquiring young talent and having this in mind as a goal and pulling together in the same direction." Rookies Willson Contreras (signed by the previous baseball regime) and Albert Almora Jr. were in the starting lineup Saturday as was key draft choice Kris Bryant and still-young players for whom the Cubs traded, such as Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell and winning pitcher Kyle Hendricks. Infielder Javy Baez, drafted by the previous baseball-operations team, was a co-MVP of the NLCS. The Epstein-led front office brought in the other co-MVP, pitcher Jon Lester as well as veterans such as infielder-outfielder Ben Zobrist, center fielder Dexter Fowler, backup catcher David Ross and closer Aroldis Chapman. "All the veterans took less (money) to sign here, to be part of this," Epstein said. "Our young guys, from the moment they were drafted, wanted to contribute to a club that could get to a World Series, win a World Series. They all set their egos aside, and they're getting rewarded for it." Team chairman Tom Ricketts put his faith in Epstein and expressed gratitude that the fans kept the faith. "The rebuild we've done the last four, five or six years, the people went through a lot, and they've all been with us," Ricketts said as he stood a few feet from Epstein. "It's really incredible." -- Daily Herald Chicago Cubs great Williams thinking of Banks, Santo By Bruce Miles Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer Billy Williams had a pair of special teammates in mind when the Cubs clinched the National League pennant Saturday night at Wrigley Field. Fellow Hall of Famers Ron Santo and Ernie Banks aren't here to enjoy the moment, so Williams carries on for them. "I think about those guys all the time," Williams said amid Saturday night's postgame celebration, after the Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodger 5-0 to win the NL championship series in six games. "I started out with Ronnie in Double-A baseball. This is 1959. Of course, Ernie was here hitting all the home runs, and (general manager) John Holland brought us up and said, 'Why don't you help Ernie hit some home runs?' So we did." Williams, a senior adviser for the Cubs, turned his attention to the current club. "It's been great," he said. "The guys have been playing great all year. This is icing on the cake. But I often say we've got another hill to climb. We're going to Cleveland. We want to continue to play good baseball. "I'm happy for them. Most of all, I'm happy for the fans. I'm involved here because I've been part of his organization for so long. To see these individuals go out and play this great baseball that they've been playing all year, it really gives me a great feeling within to see that. "They started out in spring training and people were picking them to win the World Series. They didn't look at that. They had to go out and play, and they went out and played good, sound baseball." Rotation roulette: The Cubs could come back with staff ace Jon Lester in Game 1 of the World Series, Tuesday in Cleveland. That would leave Lester on his normal rest, as he pitched this past Thursday in Los Angeles.

Lester has spent plenty of time in the American League, mostly with Boston. For his career, he is 7-1 with a 3.03 ERA against the Indians. At Progressive Field, he is 4-0 with a 3.72 ERA. It's possible the Cubs could go with Lester in Game 1 and Jake Arrieta in Game 2 on Wednesday. Kyle Hendricks, who won the NLCS clincher Saturday, would be ready for Friday's Game 3 at Wrigley Field. The Indians have announced Corey Kluber as their Game 1 starter. Kluber went 18-9 with a 3.14 ERA during the regular season. Youth is served: Saturday night's NLCS game ended with the Dodgers' Yasiel Puig grounding into a double play, from shortstop Addison Russell fielding the grounder and firing to second baseman Javier Baez, the co-MVP of the NLCS. Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said that was only fitting. "That's who we are," he said. "We're a veteran team in some ways. We're a young offensive team, and we're really athletic in the field. It is kind of fitting those guys turned the double play right there." -- Daily Herald Rozner: Chicago Cubs' McLeod scouting big prize By Barry Rozner Jason McLeod stood in short-center field late Saturday night, about 30 feet behind a stage on which Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer, Tom Ricketts and even some on the business side took part in a trophy ceremony celebrating the Chicago Cubs' first pennant in 71 years. It was completely appropriate. The Cubs' senior vice president and scouting director was just where he's been the last five years, in the background and out of the bright lights, preferring to do his work away from prying eyes. Make no mistake, however, about his place in the Cubs' hierarchy, because McLeod deserves a huge portion of the credit for the North Siders' climb from the very bottom to the very top. But standing in the shadows, McLeod surveyed the scene and deflected all praise. "It's a huge team of people, and our scouts are incredible," McLeod said. "There's so many great people, and when we're home for the World Series next weekend, they'll all be here -- all of our scouts -- and we will celebrate those guys who are out there making it happen. "It'll be special having all of them here for that." Home for the World Series next weekend. Crazy words most thought they would never hear associated with the Cubs. "Sometimes it feels like it's never gonna happen for you, but we were the best team in the league all year," McLeod said. "It doesn't always play out that way in the postseason, but it has so far for us this postseason. "I just couldn't be more proud of everyone in this organization, especially the guys on the field and the staff. There's one more step to go, but it sure feels great."

A big part of the Cubs arriving on the big stage is the type of player they have targeted, which involves much more than metrics. Obviously, they have searched far and wide for great talent -- numbers playing a large role -- but as much as anything they dig down for character. "I don't know if you can quantify it, but I don't think I've ever been around a group like this," McLeod said. "These players care about each other and want to win for each other and they are so unselfish. "I can't believe it. It's what you hope for, what you plan for, when you're trying to put something like this together. But that's easy to say and not as easy to do. "We talk to our scouts all the time about it. Internally, Tom and Theo and Jed, we talk about this, we want our scouts to get to know these guys when they're looking at a guy. We want to know background and makeup and what kind of teammate they are. "Our scouts do a great job of making sure we have the right guys. "These players put their egos aside and put the team first. It's always about the team. Certainly, we look for guys like that any time we're looking to acquire a player and I think … " McLeod then smiled and pointed at players hugging one another. "Look around. Look how much these guys like each other. That's why this is such a party, such a celebration," McLeod said. "It's special. Hopefully, we get 4 more wins. It will be even more special than when we did it in Boston." As he stood in the middle of Wrigley Field on Saturday night, McLeod marveled at how far the Cubs have come, and how close they are now to something Cubs fans have only seen in their dreams. "We talked about it when we got here, what we wanted to do," he said. "Now we need 4. That's what we need now, 4 more wins." And if it happens, there's little doubt McLeod will be where he always is, somewhere in the background, observing with eyes wide open and taking it all in. Like any true scout would. -- Cubs.com Fall Classic reunion fitting for Chapman, Miller By Richard Justice When Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller took off the Yankees pinstripes and said their goodbyes to one another last summer, they knew this kind of reunion was a possibility. Yes, trades sometimes work out exactly the way they're drawn up, and this World Series is a reminder of that. The Cubs and Indians might very well have gotten here without the trades that brought them two of baseball's best relievers, but both teams were transformed by the deals. At some point over the next few days, Miller and Chapman -- who were teammates with the Yankees for four months -- will cross paths and are sure to congratulate one another on how it has all worked out. First, Miller.

If there has been a transformative figure in this postseason, Andrew Miller is it. Indians manager Terry Francona has used him in so many roles that every team is certain to revisit how to construct a bullpen this offseason. In other words, they're all going to be searching for someone to fill an "Andrew Miller role." Good luck with that. Unless they can find someone with Miller's stuff and Miller's attitude and Miller's durability, they're going to be disappointed. Here's the other part of it. Relievers rarely become marquee stars in October. Miller is the exception to that rule. He has a chance to be a very primetime player, right there along with Kris Bryant, Francisco Lindor etc. The Indians have played eight postseason games, and Miller has been in six of them. And he has been absolutely dominant: 21 strikeouts in 11 2/3 innings. As Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said, "He has that slider that looks like a fastball and then just absolutely disappears." To put it another way: unhittable. Francona signaled how things would go when he brought Miller into the fifth inning of Cleveland's first postseason game. He would also be used in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings throughout the postseason, and for a pitching staff that has lost three starting pitchers to injuries, Miller -- and Francona's use of Miller -- probably saved a season. He was named the American League Championship Series Most Valuable Player after pitching in all four Cleveland victories and striking out 14 of 26 Blue Jays. If the Indians have a lead around the fifth inning in the World Series, Francona will start looking for an opportunity to get Miller into the game. When Indians general manager Mike Chernoff was discussing the acquisition of Miller a day before the Aug. 1 non-waiver Trade Deadline, Francona knew exactly how he'd fit. "When they were in the -- upstairs in their meetings about the trade talks and they were talking about Andrew," Francona said, "they were actually talking -- and I was in there listening and doing some talking, just about how he would fit into a bullpen and how you could leverage him, just like we are now. So the thought was alive before we got him. We envisioned using him like we are." Sure, Miller would make the Indians better. But Chernoff had given the Yankees such a nice package of prospects, including outfielder Clint Frazier, that Miller simply had to be more than another setup guy. He has been. Francona showed again why he'll someday have a plaque in Cooperstown by how he has used Miller simply as a weapon instead of in a defined role. In some ways, Miller's arrival was as much about Francona's genius as Miller's. In Miller's first four appearances with the Indians, he entered games in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings, with stints ranging from two batters to two innings. From the beginning, Miller told Francona that a defined role was unimportant, the gist of which was: "Simply use me when you need me." Cleveland's bullpen had a 3.49 ERA, ninth best in the Majors, before getting Miller. Afterwards, that bullpen blew just one save and had the fourth-lowest ERA (3.31). By contrast, Chapman got a more traditional role with the Cubs. He saved 16 games and never entered a game before the eighth inning. He worked longer than one inning only twice. But he had a huge impact on the Cubs. When he arrived, the Cubs were in their only slump of the season, having lost 19 of 31 games. Chapman gave the Cubs a comfort level that the ninth inning was taken care of. After his arrival, Cubs relievers had the third-lowest ERA (3.20) in baseball. And the Cubs got hot again.

They were 44-18 with Chapman in uniform and won 103 games, their most in 106 years. Beyond the numbers, Chapman gave the Cubs an emotional boost. Because he can be a free agent after this season, his arrival sent a message to the clubhouse that management was all-in to win this season. He also added an element of excitement. When Chapman takes his jacket off and begins to warm up, there's a buzz in the crowd. The players feel that electricity, and especially the buzz that comes with having a guy who blows up radar guns, routinely hitting 102-103 mph. The Cubs have been widely viewed as baseball's best team since the first day of Spring Training, and Chapman solidified that standing. Miller and Chapman could both be household names by the time this World Series ends. Few pitchers in history have ever thrown as hard as Chapman, and few relievers have ever had the role Miller now occupies. When Chapman was asked Saturday night if he was looking forward to being matched up across from his former teammate, he said: "I'm ready to do it. I'm ready to get on with it." Indeed, we all are. -- Cubs.com Hendry: Cubs will win at least one World Series By Phil Rogers CHICAGO -- Jim Hendry wasn't at Wrigley Field on Saturday night, celebrating with his fellow Chicagoans. But there was no way to miss the delight so many of his neighbors were taking as the Cubs clinched their elusive National League pennant. Hendry probably could hear the roar of the crowd and the honking horns at his home in Park Ridge, the quaint suburb he moved to when the Cubs hired him to work in scouting and player development in 1995. After watching president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and manager Joe Maddon build toward this success, he found the NL Championship Series victory over the Dodgers almost inevitable. It's safe to say he likes the Cubs' chances against the Indians, too. "I don't think there's any question that this team is going to win [at least one] World Series,'' Hendry said. "They'll probably win multiple World Series. That's how good they are, how great it's come together for them. I'm happy for all of them.'' Hendry, now a special assistant to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, spent almost 17 years with the Cubs, including parts of 10 seasons as their GM. His team in 2003 came about as close to reaching the World Series as you can come without actually getting the gear and the lifetime of good memories. After discussing some other topics on Saturday afternoon, I asked Hendry if he had gotten over the disappointments of the infamous Bartman game and the Cubs' collapse in the '03 NLCS. "I think I handle it well, but I don't think you ever get over it,'' Hendry said. "It wasn't the end of the world, but it was close.'' Here's something you should know about Hendry and the Cubs' franchise that will face the Indians this week: He's genuinely as big a fan of Tom Ricketts, Epstein and Maddon as you can find. While his tenure with the Cubs ended with Ricketts dismissing him midway through the 2011 season, he has complete respect for the team's chairman as well as the guys who followed him into the offices.

Hendry has always said he was treated very well by Ricketts, and he showed it by agreeing to run the team for a month after Ricketts had told him he was going to make a change. This was in June, after the Draft in which the Cubs selected Javier Baez with their first-round pick, and Hendry understood when Ricketts told him he wanted to clear the decks for a full-scale GM search. Hendry kept that news to himself until Ricketts announced it in late-July, excusing Hendry from the responsibility of handling the team's business at the non-waiver Trade Deadline. Hendry knew Ricketts was committing himself to a complete overhaul and needed to bring in someone like Epstein to give his plan credibility. Now, Hendry marvels at the work that his successors have done. "From afar, I have all the respect in the world for what the Cubs are doing now,'' Hendry said. "Theo and Joe Maddon have done a terrific job. Theo put that team together in an amazing way. You couldn't write a script that would be better than how he's put that team together. They have talented guys, high-character guys, and they play together with confidence. They do things the right way. "They have players with all that versatility, and I don't think anybody could do a better job handling them than Joe. He's a separator as a manager, just like Theo is a separator as a general manager. I don't think anybody could do better than they've done.'' Hiring Epstein from the Red Sox after Boston's horrific September 2011 got the ball rolling for the Cubs. But Hendry believes hiring Maddon from the Rays after '14 was just as important. "Theo was the right guy to take that team over when he did, and Joe Maddon's the perfect manager,'' Hendry said. "You couldn't do better. When you look at that organization's last three or four years, how could it be better? Joe was the final piece -- how great he is with players, young players and in the community, everything. That team really plays for him.'' For Hendry, the connection between Maddon and the Cubs' players has been evident watching postseason games. The ninth-inning comeback against the Giants to wrap up the NL Division Series epitomized to Hendry the faith that Maddon has in his players, and vice versa. "It would have been easy to have lost Game 4 in San Francisco, then Game 5 [back at Wrigley] would have tested everybody,'' Hendry said. "That would have been the ultimate test, but they just came back in the ninth inning to win Game 4. I give Joe a lot of credit for how they play. They're fearless. The entire operation the last few years, they're as good as it gets.'' Now, about 2003, Jim. How about we open up those wounds again? Hendry doesn't blame the fan who interfered with Moises Alou in Game 6 for the eight-run eighth inning that stopped the Cubs from celebrating in 2003 (although he does think there's a 90-percent chance Alou makes the catch). He feels like the Cubs still would have won if shortstop Alex Gonzalez would have gotten at least one out on a subsequent grounder that went past him into left field. But when Hendry wakes up at night thinking about how his team could have been the one to make history, he goes back to a place that has gotten lost in the retelling. "We scored four runs in the first inning of Game 1 off Josh Beckett, and then we never scored off him again,'' Hendry said. "I can't tell you how much respect I have for Josh Beckett. He just shut us down. We had a four-run lead, and then we couldn't win that game. If we win that game, we would have swept them.'' Interesting point. Hendry said the hardest part about the whole experience came after the Marlins had closed out a 9-6 victory in Game 7, with closer Ugueth Urbina slamming the door in the ninth inning.

"One thing I'll always remember is that after Game 7, it was an awfully hard walk to walk across the field to go in the visitor's clubhouse and send someone to get [Marlins GM] Larry Beinfest so I could congratulate him,'' Hendry said. "Larry and I were friends, and he deserved to be congratulated. He had done a very good job. People don't give him enough credit. But I remember it was a long, long walk. On the way home, in the car, I couldn't shake the feeling of how special it would have been to win that game, not for me, but for all our generations of fans. They deserved it." -- Cubs.com Fowler Cubs' first African-American in Classic By Manny Randhawa Dexter Fowler will be the first man to step in the batter's box in Game 1 of the World Series at Progressive Field on Tuesday night. And he will make history when he does so, becoming the first African-American player in Cubs history to play in the Fall Classic. The last time the Cubs were in the World Series, in 1945, African-American and Latino players were not allowed in the Majors Leagues. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier two years later in 1947 when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers and, along with teammate Dan Bankhead, was the first black man to play in a World Series -- a heart-breaking, seven-game loss to the crosstown rival Yankees. Fowler was unaware of the historical significance of his place in the starting lineup -- he is expected to hit leadoff and make the first plate appearance of the 112th World Series. A tweet by sportswriter Rany Jazayerli brought the point to Fowler's attention, and he tweeted in reply: "Wow ... speechless. Thanks for sharing this fact. I will carry it with me." Fowler hit .333 (9-for-27) with three doubles, a home run and four RBIs in the Cubs' National League Championship Series victory over the Dodgers, helping Chicago reach its first World Series in 71 years. -- Cubs.com Oldest living Cubs fans relish World Series berth after decades By Mark Newman Raymond Styrlund goes to sleep around 9 o'clock each night, but Saturday was different. One of the oldest living Cubs fans, born in 1911 and now 105 and as sharp as a Javier Baez liner, Styrlund listened to all of the radio broadcast of Game 6 of the National League Championship Series against the Dodgers. He sat up in his bed at his assisted living center in East Moline, Ill., restless energy coursing through his veins as Anthony Rizzo caught that baseball three hours east in Chicago to secure the first Cubs World Series berth since 1945. Styrlund remembered all of those years, flickers of light in the memory banks. The 1938 pennant season, Gabby Hartnett's "Homer in the Gloamin'," working at night and walking over to Wrigley Field from his nearby California Terrace apartment to see Dizzy Dean and an occasional day game. Harry Caray and Jack Brickhouse were the soundtrack of his life. Santo to Beckert to Banks. Flying the W and dealing with the setbacks. "It was too exciting to go to sleep," Styrlund said on Sunday after a sumptuous celebration repast of eggs, toast, donut and fruit. "I'd kind of given up hope the way it was going over the years. That's why I stayed up. I had to find out if they could do this. I've been waiting a long time. I couldn't believe it. "Then I was here all by myself, so I tried to go to sleep, but it took quite a while after going through all of that. It had to sink in."

The 112th World Series is the Longest Wait Series, with Chicago hoping to win it all for the first time since 1908 and Cleveland hoping to do so for the first time since '48. Many people are thinking not only of their own endurance as loyal fans, but also of loved ones who passed the game on to them and did not live to see this Fall Classic. Many people want to know what centenarians know. "They're gonna win this time," Styrlund promises. "They'd better, because I can't wait another 100 years." Neither can Mavis Bell, 107, of DeKalb, Ill. She has lived the last 22 years at the Oak Crest DeKalb Area Retirement Center, flying a "W" flag on the door of her room, wearing Cub socks and her trademark home Cubs jersey with the No. 107 on the back. Like Styrlund, she is soaking in the moment with friends and family. Bell was born in 1909, the year after the Cubs won their last World Series title, and she is the oldest known Cubs fan, according to her grandson, who notified MLB.com on Sunday night. "It seems like the whole place is for the Cubs now," Bell told the DeKalb Daily Chronicle. "I've waited my whole life for them to win." Styrlund was born in Viking, Minn., a wide spot in the road near the Canada and North Dakota border. It was one week before President William Howard Taft allowed Arizona and New Mexico to join the 46-state union, and a week after Lucille Ball was born. At that point, the Cubs had just appeared in four of the last five World Series, the first dynasty in modern Major League Baseball. There was no Cubs blood in Styrlund yet, though, but baseball came early. "They talk about waiting for a Cubs World Series. A lot of it is luck, you know," Styrlund said. "When they swing that bat, you don't know. You might hit it. I played a lot of baseball, so I know. You swing at it, you hit it or you don't. "I lived in a small town, and we had a team that played different towns. There were no leagues. It was just competition. I was average. I played first base a lot. Back then, they didn't have the funds to do anything, to go anywhere. You're in the Depression. The towns around there, smaller cities, they all had a team, and we just compete against each other." In 1937, Styrlund moved to Chicago with his wife, who had gone to nursing school there and had just taken a job. He started working in the evenings at Railway Express, handling freight. "I was working in the evenings, and back then, they didn't have any lights at Wrigley, you know, so it was all day games," Styrlund said. "So I'd go over there in the daytime to see the game and go to work in the evening. I wasn't too far from it." There are no scorecards and only blurry memories from that '38 season, when the Cubs were swept by the vaunted Yankees in the World Series. Styrlund remembers getting to watch Dean on one of those trips to the Friendly Confines. Perhaps because that is how normal it was to have a World Series played at Wrigley Field back then; nothing like right now. A few years later, Styrlund moved back to Minnesota. That was his only window of life as a Wrigley neighbor and visitor. He witnessed the invention of radio and television, and then relied on both of those media as his link to the Cubs, right up until the final double play on Saturday. "I was working at a gas station up there in Minnesota, and I had a brother-in-law who was down here in Moline, and he called me and said, 'I know where you can get a gas station down here,'" Styrlund recalled. "So I came down and looked at it and took it, so I had a gas station in the Quad Cities [region]. Then the war came, and I went to the shop down there and ended up there. Reynolds Engineering in Rock Island, that's where I retired." Styrlund retired 40 years ago.

At the age of 65. "I've been very healthy all my life," Styrlund said. "My mother was 100 when she passed away, and she had a brother who was 104, and my dad had a sister who was 100, so there were long livers on both sides. We had one fellow here in Rock Island, he died at 115. I'm shooting for 115." Seven years ago, Styrlund lost his beloved wife of so many years. They had been at the same assisted living center, and now he gets around there pretty well by himself and his helpers. With macular degeneration, he sees little, just enough of objects to move around. He hears just fine. He is not big on people "fussing" about him, but he does like to talk about the Cubs. "I'm not so steady anymore, my legs give out," Styrlund said. "Sometimes I use my walker, and I also have a wheelchair. I like to use the walker more because I want to keep my legs going. My eyes have gotten so bad that I can't read anything. I see enough to take care of myself and get around, but I don't dare to go out. You'll find out when you get to 105." Styrlund got there on Aug. 14. Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts received a note from Ron Bjork, Styrlund's son-in-law, a diehard Cardinals fan in Moline, where there has always been community conflict over the vaunted Cubs-Cards rivalry. In this case, blood and baseball are what matters. Bjork told the Cubs about Raymond's birthday, on the day of a Cubs-Cards game no less, and said it would be nice if the Cubs could wish Raymond a happy 105th. Ricketts' office passed along the note to the Cubs' broadcasting team. During the fourth inning of that day's WSCR radio broadcast, longtime radio play-by-play broadcaster Pat Hughes said, "There is a great Cub fan by the name of Raymond Styrlund, who is 105 years old today. ... I know nothing would make Raymond happier than a Cubs win here tonight against the Cardinals." The Cubs lost that day, but they finished 17 1/2 games ahead of the Cardinals to win the NL Central, eliminated the Giants in four in the NL Division Series, then were tested but able to finally clinch the NL pennant in six against Los Angeles. "His wish was to see the Cubs in the World Series," Bjork said. "He never said they had to win it." But make no mistake. Styrlund picks the Cubs in seven. "You never know, we'll see how it goes," Styrlund said. "There was always next year. But if they win the World Series, they're gonna go wild in Chicago. And, well, then I have accomplished all I want." -- Cubs.com Hughes, Hamilton have opportunity of lifetime By Barry M. Bloom CLEVELAND -- The calls of great moments in baseball history are often just as iconic as the moments themselves. And at the end of this World Series -- the unlikely coupling of the Cubs against the Indians, which opens on Tuesday night at Progressive Field -- there will be a huge opportunity for the play-by-play radio guys to make their marks. Pat Hughes has been broadcasting Cubs games for 20 years. Tom Hamilton has been doing the same for the Tribe for 27. The Cubs haven't won the World Series since 1908, the Indians since 1948. It's a confluence of events and forces that should lead to not only dramatic baseball, but to a description of the outcome that will last forever.

"You think about how lucky you are to have this job," Hamilton told MLB.com when reached by phone on Sunday. "I've known that since the day I got it 27 years ago. And if you're a play-by-play guy, you live for these kinds of moments." If the Cubs win it all, Hughes will have a chance to call an event that hasn't happened since the dawn of radio. Even so, on Saturday night he was the first Cubs broadcaster since the legendary Jack Brickhouse in 1945 to tell his audience that the Cubs had won a pennant. The Cubs won Game 6 of their National League Championship Series, 5-0, over the Dodgers at Wrigley Field, which opened in 1914 and has never been home to a World Series champion. The Cubs didn't even begin broadcasting their games on radio until 1924. "It was extremely thrilling, one of the highlights of my life," said Hughes, now 61 and a Cubs broadcaster since 1996. "It was a very sweet moment when three of the things I love most came together in that moment and that is the Cubs, baseball and broadcasting. It was nerve-racking, but I was so thrilled to make the call." This is how Hughes paraphrased his description of that moment: "The Cubs are going to the World Series, and they win the pennant. And the National League-champion Chicago Cubs are going to play the Indians in the World Series." Both Hughes and Hamilton said these calls can't be scripted. Neither of them thought ahead about making their pennant calls, and they certainly haven't determined how they might call a World Series victory for the first time in either of their careers. The details of how it all ends are going to dictate that. "It's whatever comes to you at that moment," Hughes said. "I tell people it would be one kind of a call if there was an 11-0 lead at the moment of victory or Kris Bryant [hitting] a three-run homer." The greatest calls are of homers that decided a season, World Series game or series. Everyone has their iconic favorites. The pair mentioned three. Russ Hodges of the Giants calling Bobby Thomson's homer, which beat the Dodgers for the NL pennant in 1951 at the Polo Grounds: "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" The dueling calls by Vin Scully on national television and Jack Buck on the radio of Kirk Gibson's famous "limp-off" homer, which won Game 1 of the 1988 World Series for the Dodgers over the A's at Dodger Stadium. Tom Cheek's famous call of the walk-off homer Joe Carter hit for the Blue Jays at what was then called Skydome to win the 1993 World Series in six games over the Phillies: "Touch 'em all, Joe," Cheek said. "You'll never hit a bigger homer in your life!" Only two World Series have been decided by homers -- in 1993, and in 1960, when Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski beat the Yankees in a Game 7 stunner. Bob Prince called that one screaming over the din of the crowd at Forbes Field: "There's a high fly ball to left, and it may do it. It's over the wall, and it's a homer. The Pirates win!" Prince then went silent for 31 seconds and let the roar of the crowd take over. Hamilton, 60, has been calling Indians games since 1990, so he was behind the mic when Cleveland last won American League pennants in 1995 and '97. They lost the World Series on both occasions - to the Braves in six games and two years later to the Marlins in seven. Jimmy Dudley and Jack Graney called the Indians games the last time the Tribe won the World Series, defeating the Boston Braves in six games. It's been a long time since then.

"I think back to the '90s, and maybe because I was much younger and we were so good, that you just expected to be in the postseason every year," Hamilton said. "But now that you're 20 years removed from that era, you realize how special it is and how difficult it is. I have a much greater appreciation of it now." Sometime in the next four to seven games, the Cubs or Indians will win, and the announcers will have the opportunity of a lifetime. -- Cubs.com C's the day before: Chicago, Cleveland ready By Anthony Castrovince CLEVELAND -- The baseball season ends with someone else celebrating. That's just how it is for fans of the Indians and Cubs. And then winter begins, and, to paraphrase the great meteorologist Phil Connors from "Groundhog Day," it is cold, it is gray and it lasts the rest of your life. The city of Cleveland has had 68 of those salt-spreading, ice-chopping, snow-shoveling winters between Tribe titles, while Chicagoans with an affinity for the North Siders have all been biding their time in the wintry winds since, in all probability, well before birth. Remarkably, it's been 108 years since the Cubs were last on top of the baseball world. So if patience is a virtue, the Cubs and Tribe are as virtuous as they come. And the 2016 World Series that arrives with Monday's Media Day -- the pinch-us, we're-really-here appetizer to Tuesday's intensely anticipated Game 1 at Progressive Field -- is one pitting fan bases of shared circumstances and sentiments against each other. These are two cities, separated by just 350 miles, on the Great Lakes with no great shakes in the realm of baseball background, and that has instilled in their people a common and eventually unmet refrain of "Why not us?" But for one of them, the tide will soon turn and so, too, will the response: "Really? Us?" Yes, you. Imagine what that would feel like for Norman Rosen. He's 90 years old and wise to the patience required of Cubs fandom. But in 1945, he was young, he was spry and he was skeptical of those crazy people lined up outside of Wrigley Field, waiting for tickets to a World Series game against the Tigers. Norm was walking home from a date with his girlfriend, Sally, and the two thought the sight of all those people literally camped out was pretty silly. But then, after he continued home, Norm had a thought: "Who knows when this will happen again?" He didn't know the answer would be 71 years in the making. Norm doubled back late in the night and got in line. When the ticket window opened in the morning, the people who had set up tents and seats took their sweet time getting to the window, so Norm strolled right up and bought a pair of standing-room ducats. Sally was still in high school, so he showed up at the school and asked her guidance counselor for permission to take her to the afternoon game, and the guidance counselor gave the go-ahead. The Cubs lost, but Norm won. He and Sally were married for 67 years, and they started a family full of rabid Cubs fans. When their son, Barry, was studying abroad in Brazil in the summer of 1969, Norm sent him the Chicago Sun-Times sports section every single day. By the time Barry finally received the paper, it was about 30 days old. So when he left Brazil, he was under the impression the Cubs had a comfortable cushion in the NL East. By the time he landed back in Chicago, he learned they had blown it.

Such was life in Cub fandom. Deep dish pizza topped with trauma. That is, until Theo Epstein came to town in the midst of the 2011 World Series (you know, one of many won by the rival Cardinals) and promised to tear it all down and build something better. The Cubs club Theo constructed would melt even the most hardened hearts, with a quirky, bespectacled skipper named Joe Maddon and an unusually profuse and versatile assortment of young talent supported by some been-there, done-that vets. The Cubs have not once shied from the spotlight or the target or the weighty expectations placed upon them, and they simply don't give a damn about the billy goat or any "woe is me" sentiment that once reigned supreme. Chicago might be rightly celebrated for its blues scene and heritage, but the Cubs and their fans are profoundly sick of singing them. And now they've got a ballclub worthy of a more happy tune. Unfortunately, like so many others, Sally didn't live to see this. She passed away in April. And so when Norm watched Saturday's NLCS clincher, he shed a tear, confident his departed bride had a hand in the outcome. "Through all the so-called curses and things," Norm said, "including the times when it looked like they had it won and then didn't -- the Bartman Game and all those things -- I never gave up hope. And here we are, 71 years later." And here we are, 68 years after the Indians' last World Series title and 19 years after their last appearance. Game 1, believe it or not, is taking place in Cleveland for the very first time. It's different in Northeast Ohio, a place where your daily commute will often involve the sight of a beat-up vehicle sporting a "Cleveland: You Gotta Be Tough" bumper sticker. Here, the tales of the teams have long been intertwined, because their misery was too long collective and all too reflective of a sagging Rust Belt economy that prompted many of the area's college grads to leave for, well, places like Chicago and elsewhere. Dramatic, traumatic twists of fate like The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot or The Jose Mesa carried significance far beyond their own immediate effects. When the Indians saw their 100-win season in a strike-shortened 144-game 1995 go to waste against the Atlanta Braves or frittered away a ninth-inning lead in Game 7 in Miami in '97, they were part of a bigger, blurry, baneful picture. In Cleveland, you had pierogies, and you had pain. So you can't tell the story of the 2016 Cleveland Indians without telling the story of the 2015-16 Cleveland Cavaliers. For 52 years, fans here rooted desperately and fruitlessly for a Cleveland team to win a major sports title, and that made it unmistakably appropriate that when local product LeBron James and his teammates won the NBA Finals in June, they only did so after falling behind 3-1 in the best-of-seven to a Golden State Warriors team coming off the greatest regular season of all time. For a Cleveland team to win, the script had to be preposterous. And beating the 103-win Cubbies would fit that pattern. There is something to be said about the pressure that was lifted off the Indians when the Cavs pulled off that miracle run. Because now, no longer was a losing skid or an assault of injury issues viewed as an ominous signal of pending failure but, instead, just a bump on the road to glory. "I think there was a sigh of relief when they did it," first baseman Mike Napoli said. "If they hadn't won, I'm sure our situation now would be a lot crazier. I think it helped ease a lot of people around here." Despite the home-field edge, the Tribe enters the World Series as the underdog, and, as first-base coach Sandy Alomar Jr. joked, "I don't ever remember Cleveland being the overdog." The Indians' vaunted rotation took some hard hits to its health late in the year, and piecing it together in the postseason has taken a ton of creativity from manager Terry Francona and his staff. But Francona brought this ballclub his earned experience of two Boston titles along with a passion to make his dad, the former Tribe All-Star Tito Francona, proud.

And so, in Cleveland, it's not just about faith but also about family. It always is. The downside of this Series is that somebody has to lose it. That frankly doesn't feel fair. Indians fans have endured enough, Cubs fans have endured enough. Neither of them deserves another defeat. But at least the loser will be able to appreciate what the result means to the victor. Tribe fans and Cubs fans are too similarly aligned in upbringing and environment not to know how sweet such success would be for the other. And anyway, win or lose, they'll all be breaking out the shovels soon. -- Cubs.com Fans all over: Who you'll find in the Cubs' corner By Phil Rogers CHICAGO -- Sure, it has been 108 years since the Cubs last won the World Series. Nobody knows much about the immortal Orval Overall, the pitcher whose complete game wrapped up that 1908 Fall Classic over Ty Cobb's Tigers, but that's OK. The Cubs have always kept seats available on the bandwagon, and if you haven't fallen in love with the team that manager Joe Maddon has run out on the field over the last two years, you must not have been paying attention. But most Cubs fans loved them back in 2012, when they lost 101 games, and these days love them like they do a 72-degree day in December. The level of support is consistently impressive, with fans often making so much noise at road games that you'd think the Cubs were playing at home. And Wrigley Field, with the Ernie Banks statue in the front and the Harry Caray statue behind the bleachers? That's holy ground, my friend. Just ask the generations of Chicagoans who have snuck their loved one's ashes into the park and dumped them over the outfield wall, into the ivy or onto the warning track. Who will be backing the Cubs in the World Series? Let's name some of the groups: Born and breds, with bonafides: Chicago is as provincial as its Lake Michigan shoreline is beautiful. The Cubs' fan base is loaded with families who have followed the team since the Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance years, with season-ticket holders that date to the Phil Wrigley ownership group. One sign in the stands at Game 6 of the National League Division Series against the Dodgers speaks loudly for these folks: "Do it for Mom.'' How can you argue with that? Snowbirds who migrate west: So many Cub fans have retired to Arizona or spend winters there that Chicago chains like Portillo's and Lou Malnati's have opened restaurants in Phoenix. The Cubs play Spring Training games in the biggest park in the Cactus League, and it's hard to get tickets. Midwestern bartenders: Sure, the bars on Clark Street are packed with Cubs fans -- one actually ran out of beer on Saturday night -- but taverns across Illinois have been loaded with fans every time the Cubs played this season. Winning baseball is good business. A-listers: The Cubs will put their list of celebrity fans up against those of any other franchise, not just the Indians. Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, from Seattle, was sitting in president of baseball operations Theo Epstein's suite for the Game 6 clincher, and he has been known to go to Jon Lester's rooftop for sing-a-longs to his song "Someday We'll Go All the Way,'' which he once sang with Banks at a Wrigley Field concert. Actor John Cusack recently sold his Malibu beachfront property seemingly to live in his box at Wrigley Field (he was there for more than 60 games this year). Comedians Bill Murray and Stephen Colbert, musician Billy Corgan, political commentator George Will, author Sara Paretsky as well as actors Bonnie Hunt, Jeff Garlin, Joe Mantegna, Tom Dreesen, Jim Belushi, Bob Newhart and Nick Offerman are among those likely to attend World Series games.

Maddon missionaries: Maddon's work on the field speaks for itself. But he has also been very active in community work, especially in his hometown of Hazleton, Pa., where he grew up in an apartment of his father's plumbing shop, and in Tampa Bay-St. Petersburg, where he managed the Rays for eight years and still maintains a strong presence. Boys of Summer (1969 variety): Banks and Ron Santo are among 15 members of the legendary '69 Cubs who have died. But Billy Williams and Fergie Jenkins remain regulars at Wrigley, and Randy Hundley serves as a Spring Training instructor. You better believe most of the boys who were once the toast of Chicago will be rooting for their old team in the World Series. Beisbol fanaticos: The Cubs have the Indians out-numbered in players from Latin America on the postseason roster, 7-5. They should be the team to root for in Cuba (Aroldis Chapman and Jorge Soler) and Venezuela (Willson Contreras, Miguel Montero and Hector Rondon), while being repped by Javier Baez in Puerto Rico and Pedro Strop in the Dominican Republic. Baseball Pipeline peeps: When Epstein thanks the fans, he always acknowledges the large group that followed the development of players like Baez, Kris Bryant, Addison Russell and Contreras through the Minor Leagues while the Major League team was losing. Fans in Kodak, Tenn., east of Knoxville, got to watch Baez blast 20 home runs there in 2013 and then Bryant do him two better the very next summer. Fans in Iowa City -- just a short drive from Chicago -- no doubt fondly remember their glimpse of Russell, who hit .318/.326/.477 there in '15 after being acquired from the A's. Those prospects of yesterday are now the stars of today. Steve Goodman fans (even if they may not know it): The late folk singer who wrote "City of New Orleans'' lived in an apartment on Waveland Avenue and wrote the song "Go Cubs, Go'' in 1984, the year he died from leukemia at age 36. It was a throw-off that amused him but it is now sung at Wrigley every Cubs win, and it has been heard more than a mile away. Mensa members: No one's saying the Indians are dumb. But the Cubs feature a Major League ERA leader in Kyle Hendricks who holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Dartmouth. Epstein graduated from Yale and the University of San Diego Law. And finally ... Florists: Epstein can still get choked up when he thinks about the flowers and other tributes he saw at New England cemeteries when the Red Sox returned from sweeping the Cardinals in 2004. That scene is sure to play out in Chicago if the Cubs can win their first since Overall shut down the Tigers (although business would be pretty good in Cleveland, too). -- Cubs.com What we've learned about Cubs in postseason By Carrie Muskat CHICAGO -- Cubs fans flocked to Wrigley Field on Sunday to take photos in front of the famous marquee on Clark and Addison Streets, capturing the historic moment as the team celebrates its first trip to the World Series since 1945. While generations may be savoring the Cubs winning the National League pennant, the players are focusing on four more wins. "They know the history," Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said of the young players. "I just don't think they care. We have some guys who shine on the big stage, and I think that means a lot." Next up for the Cubs will be the American League-champion Indians on Tuesday in Cleveland for Game 1 of the World Series. The Cubs now have ousted the even-year favorite Giants in the NL Division Series and sent the NL West-champion Dodgers home after beating the best pitcher on the planet, Clayton Kershaw, on Saturday.

"We need to understand the magnitude of where we're at," Anthony Rizzo said. "At the same time, we need to understand that we control our own destiny. We'll go out and play our hearts out and see what happens." So what have we learned about the Cubs after 10 postseason games? The kids can play Saturday's lineup featured two rookies, Willson Contreras and Albert Almora Jr., and if you don't count Dexter Fowler, 30, or Ben Zobrist, 35, the average age was 24. "They forget negative things and they stay positive and focused on the task at hand," Zobrist said of the Cubs' youth. "Regardless of how young they are, they play like veterans and make adjustments quickly. It's a really special group of people." Zobrist knows what to expect at this phase since he played in the World Series last year with the Royals. Any advice? "I don't need to tell them anything," he said. "They've done it in the postseason. We've knocked down the first two hurdles in the postseason. They need to stay focused, stay in the moment, and hopefully we can get four more." Rizzo, the elder statesman in the infield at 27, went 1-for-15 in the NLDS, then grabbed one of Matt Szczur's bats in Game 4 of the NL Championship Series and went 7-for-14 in the last three games against the Dodgers. "To be honest, the more you play in the postseason, the more you try to go another game, another game," Rizzo said. "Just keep going and have fun." It's the little things The key moment for manager Joe Maddon was Zobrist's bunt to lead off the fourth inning in Game 4 at Dodger Stadium. The Cubs had been shut out in Games 2 and 3, and that bunt sparked a four-run inning. "They had a young pitcher going [in Julio Urias], so you put a little pressure out there, and it could just start with a bunt," Maddon said. "All of a sudden, there's a baserunner, [the pitcher's] thought process changes, not knowing how long [he's] going to be out there. All this crazy stuff goes through [the pitcher's] mind. So it is that simple. That's the butterfly effect right there. It was a bunt this year." It's not how you start, but how you finish Javier Baez was on the Cubs' bench at the start of the season and finished as the NLCS co-MVP, along with pitcher Jon Lester. Baez batted .318 with five RBIs and one dazzling defensive play after another in the six games. "Javy has been unbelievable," Fowler said. "He's a diamond in the rough. He makes plays, he plays hard, he loves the game. You can see it on his face." In Spring Training, the Cubs were talking about playing Baez in the outfield to try to find a spot for him. "He's the most natural baseball player I've ever seen play the game," Kyle Hendricks said. Pitching, pitching, pitching Cubs pitchers have combined for a 2.93 ERA in 10 postseason games. Their fifth starter, Hendricks, won the biggest game in franchise history on Saturday, holding the Dodgers to two hits over 7 1/3 scoreless innings. "He had the toughest task out of all of us -- he had to face Kershaw twice," Lester said of the 26-year-old right-hander. The Cubs have yet to announce their Game 1 World Series starter, but they could open with Jake Arrieta and go with either Lester or John Lackey in Game 2 in Cleveland. That would set up Hendricks for Wrigley Field when the

series shifts to Chicago for Games 3, 4 and 5. Lester is 4-0 with a 3.72 ERA in eight career starts at Progressive Field, Lackey is 3-5 with a 2.94 mark in eight career starts there and Arrieta has made one start in Cleveland. Score first, win innings Maddon's message was simple, and it worked. The team that scored first in the NLCS won that game. It helps when Fowler provides the spark. Maddon's message to him is, "You go, we go," although lately, the manager just tells Fowler, "It's true." "When he gets on base, we do special things," Rizzo said. Trust in Joe Maddon didn't do anything wacky -- like insert his pitchers in the outfield -- and his take-it-one-day-at-a-time approach may have bored the media, but it was soothing to the players. "Joe is amazing," Hoyer said. "His demeanor going into Game 4 is why you get a guy like Joe Maddon. He had confidence in the guys, our guys know he has confidence in them. He never waivers, he's fun to play for and he's great tactically. There's no way this happens without Joe." -- Cubs.com Series has a wrinkle for Chicagoland's Kipnis By Jordan Bastian CLEVELAND -- Anthony Rizzo caught the final out and thrust his arms skyward, celebrating a moment that was more than seven decades in the making. The fans inside Wrigley Field did the same, some shedding tears of joy, as the championship-starved Cubs secured a place in the World Series. In Cleveland, Jason Kipnis did not know how to react. "I'm not going to lie," Kipnis said Sunday, while sitting on a table in the tunnel behind the dugout at Progressive Field. "I even teared up, because I didn't know how to handle it." Why did it have to be the Cubs? That was Kipnis' initial reaction, as text messages from family members and close friends began buzzing his phone. The Indians' second baseman was born and raised in Northbrook, Ill., a suburb on Chicago's North Side. Reaching the World Series has been a dream come true for Kipnis and his Cleveland teammates, but there is now a torturous tone to it for him. One of Kipnis' uncles is a doctor who delivered one of the children of Cubs great Ryne Sandberg. Kipnis grew up near Steve Bartman, who is infamous in Chicago for interfering with a foul ball in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series with the Marlins in 2003. Kipnis' brother, Blair, has a close friend who runs a sports bar in Wrigleyville, a short walk from the ballpark. "The Cubs are part of who I am," Kipnis said. In his backyard as a kid, Kipnis played through the same scenario as plenty of kids who grew up on the North Side. It was the ninth inning in a critical World Series game. The count was full. His team was down. He was stepping to the plate with a championship on the line at Wrigley Field, which has not hosted a Fall Classic since 1945. "I always thought it was going to be the bottom of the ninth," Kipnis said. "It's the top of the ninth now." The Cubs have not won it all since 1908, representing the longest title drought in baseball. Kipnis is concerning himself with ending another streak, though. As Cleveland's leader in the clubhouse, and a steady force on the field,

he is hoping to end his new home city's own World Series drought. The Indians have the second-longest run without a title, having not won it all since 1948. Kipnis' family and friends understand. The second baseman had friends in the stands at Wrigley on Saturday night, when the Cubs defeated the Dodgers to clinch a spot in the World Series. Kipnis, who watched the game at home in Cleveland with former Indians pitcher Joba Chamberlain, began receiving encouraging messages from people who are rooting for him to win it all with Cleveland. "They're Chicago fans," Kipnis said. "My brothers and sister are really big Cubs fans. With that being said, even unprovoked, I've had all of them and a bunch of my friends text me saying, 'It's not even an option. We're Tribe all the way.' It's meant a lot. "It's reassured me of the inner circle that I've chosen for myself. Without me having to say anything, they reaffirmed that, 'Hey, we're on the Indians' side. The curse can wait one more year.'" The Cubs will enter this World Series as the heavy favorites, which is fine by the Tribe's players. They have already beaten the Red Sox and Blue Jays as the underdogs, and they know most of the country is probably hoping to see Chicago finally end its fans' suffering. "We know the Cubs' following, the Cubs' fan base, the nation's lovable losers," Kipnis said. "We know a lot of people are going to be cheering for the Cubs and it's going to make Wrigley that more fun." Kipnis said he remembers following Sandberg and Mark Grace as a kid, and listening to famous Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray. He said it was "must-see TV" when Sammy Sosa came to bat during his 1998 home run race with Mark McGwire. Kipnis remembers watching Kerry Wood strike out 20 batters in one game and sitting in the stands in 2003 when Mark Prior outdueled Greg Maddux in the playoffs. Kipnis also remembers what it was like in Northbrook in the days following the Bartman Game. Kipnis attended St. Norbert School, as did Bartman. Chicago fans remember the guy sitting in Aisle 4, Row 8, Seat 113, wearing a turtleneck, dark sweatshirt, glasses and headphones over his blue Cubs cap. Kipnis can still picture the police cars on Bartman's street. "I remember seeing cops lined outside of his house for the next month or two, just blocking it," Kipnis said. "Totally undeserving. Even as a sophomore in high school, I could see that everyone else was going for the ball, and everyone still does that. They needed a scapegoat, and they found one." Kipnis understands the pain that has been associated with being a Cubs fan, so he also realizes how special this year is for the city of Chicago. Now, though, he knows he needs to try to extend the Cubs' drought to 109 years. "This is tough," Kipnis said. "The 10-year-old boy in me is saying, 'Why does it have to be the Cubs?' My whole social media and Facebook and everything is all Cubs posts, because that's what all of my friends and my hometown are fans of. And now I have to go try to disappoint all of them." -- ESPNChicago.com How Kyle Schwarber could fit into the Cubs' World Series plans By Jesse Rogers CLEVELAND -- A Hollywood ending to a magical Chicago Cubs season could involve one of their most popular players putting down his walking cane and picking up his bat.

That's the plan at least, as all signs point to Kyle Schwarber returning to active duty for the World Series, according to a source familiar with the situation. Schwarber will DH again in a Fall League matinee game on Monday, then fly to Cleveland to join his teammates for the World Series, which begins Tuesday. Unless there is a setback, expect Schwarber to be on the 25-man roster. It's a miraculous development for a fan and team favorite. "The timing is just a little bit off," a scout told ESPN's Christopher Crawford after Schwarber's Fall League debut on Saturday. "But that's to be expected; this guy hasn't played in a game since April. He still showed quality bat speed, he appeared to recognize pitches well, and he's always a threat with the long ball. As talented as this young man is, it wouldn't surprise me at all if he's ready to contribute with the bat in a couple of days.” Schwarber went 0-for-3 with a walk on Saturday playing for the Mesa Solar Sox, just a little over six months since undergoing surgery on two torn ligaments in his left knee. If Schwarber is sharp enough to join the roster, the only question is a medical one. Normally, his recovery would take six to nine months, but Schwarber has shown enough in his rehab to participate in some activities, namely hitting a baseball. The Cubs say they will ask him to do only that and then run the bases, as his doctor hasn't cleared him for anything else. "Can he be effective and do what they want in a specific role?" ESPN's injury analyst Stephania Bell asked. "The answer has to be yes or they wouldn't let him return." Bell notes that Dr. Dan Cooper, who performed the surgery on Schwarber's ACL and LCL tears, is an expert in multiple torn ligament operations and recoveries. "Those are more complicated because they affect the rehab time," Bell said. "Whenever you look at a sport you're looking at a seasonal calendar. Would it be ideal if we were talking about him for next year? I think we know the answer to that. But the World Series can be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so you evaluate the risk versus the reward. Is he at a 100 percent? Probably not. He hasn't been cleared to play the field. Is he in a position to be safe to play in the role they are allowing him to return? What he's done in rehab to this point has sold them on that." One issue Bell brought up was sliding, calling it a "complex" maneuver for a rehabbing knee. There's been no indication Schwarber has been practicing it but, then again, the Cubs might not ask him to do more than run upright. "He can run the bases," Cubs president Theo Epstein said. "He would run the bases conservatively, but he is running well." So how would Schwarber fit in and whom would he replace? Obviously he could only pinch hit at Wrigley Field, limiting manager Joe Maddon's options on the bench in the case of double switches or extra innings. The Cubs could simply reduce their pitching staff to 11 and add Schwarber to their bench, considering they probably won't need four lefties in the bullpen against the Cleveland Indians. Rob Zastryzny would be the likely candidate to be dropped. Additionally, up to four games will be played with the designated hitter, reducing the need to pinch hit -- meaning carrying one fewer arm in the World Series could make sense for that reason as well. There could always be that moment when you run out of hurlers in an extra-inning affair, but the arguments for fewer pitchers are stronger. Epstein's 2004 Boston Red Sox carried just 10 pitchers; the 2007 team used 11 in the World Series. Maddon's World Series team in 2008 in Tampa Bay also employed 11 pitchers, so it's pretty clear the Cubs don't have to replace a position player for Schwarber. The lineup The Cleveland Indians have already named righty Corey Kluber their Game 1 starter, so we can attempt to construct a lineup based on Jon Lester starting for the Cubs. This is assuming Jason Heyward returns to right field after sitting in Game 6, while utilizing a left/righty look to the bottom half of the batting order. Just seeing Schwarber's name on the scorecard will undoubtedly bring joy to Cubs fans and additional intrigue to their first World Series appearance since 1945.

Dexter Fowler, CF Kris Bryant, 3b Anthony Rizzo, 1b Ben Zobrist, LF Javier Baez, 2b Schwarber, DH Addison Russell, SS Heyward, RF David Ross, C --