【2000 Archives】

000 Archivescurse is finally, finallydead.

The Chicago Cubs -- haunted by the most infamous losing streak in sports for 108 years -- beat the Cleveland Indians on the road in Game 7 of the World Series on Wednesday night to win their first Major League Baseball championship since 1908.

So ends a drought that for more than a century defined the Cubs and their fans, who are the lovable losers of sports no more. It sure didn't come easy, though.

The Cubs ended their curse in fitting underdog style in Game 7. Chicago came back from a 3-1 deficit against Cleveland, making the Cubs just the sixth World Series team to accomplish the feat, and the first since the Kansas City Royals in 1985.

They finished the job on Wednesday night while providing plenty of dramatic moments from the get-go in an instant-classic game that will forever shine in the Fall Classic annals. We got extra innings, a rain delay -- we got it all.

In the first inning, Chicago's Dexter Fowler started the party early by hitting the first leadoff home run in World Series Game 7 history.

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The Cubs ran their lead up to 5-1 when Anthony Rizzo drove Kris Bryant home in the fifth inning. But any Chicago fans who thought the rout was on soon got a rude awakening.

Cleveland took advantage of a wild pitch by Jon Lester in the bottom of the inning to narrow the gap to 5-3. Next, however, came a storybook twist.

Lester's wild pitch in the bottom of the fifth bounced off the face-mask of David Ross, the Cubs' 39-year-old catcher who had long since planned to retire after this season. Now, playing in the final game of his career, Ross stepped to the plate of a newly tense game and ripped a solo shot off Cleveland's Andrew Miller to give Chicago a 6-3 lead in the top of the sixth.

The classic moment provided both breathing room and redemption after the previous inning's muck-up. It also made Ross the oldest player to hit a home run in Game 7 of a World Series.

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But Cleveland did not go down quietly.

The Indians nicked a run off fearsome Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman in the eighth to pull within one, then Rajai Davis blasted a towering solo shot to even the score at 6-6. After having thrown 62 pitches in games five and six, Chapman appeared as drained as Cubs fans feared he would be heading into Game 7.

A scoreless ninth inning sent the game to extras -- when a rain delay was called before the 10th inning began. The hiatus lasted just 17 minutes, but was a pitch-perfect late addition to a surreal baseball night.

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When play resumed, Ben Zobrist hit an RBI double in the top of the 10th to wrestle the lead back for Chicago. Then Miguel Montero hit an RBI single for an 8-6 Cubs advantage.

Carl Edwards Jr. began the bottom of the 10th for the Cubs after Chapman, worked to the bone, was finally taken out by manager Joe Maddon. First, Edwards struck out Mike Napoli. Then he forced Jose Ramirez into a ground-out.

The Cubs were one out away -- but of course it wouldn't be so easy.

Edwards next walked Brandon Guyer to bring Rajai Davis back to the plate. Davis -- just as he delivered with the game-tying home run eighth inning -- hit a line drive to center to bring Guyer in and make the score 8-7.

Mike Montgomery, in for Edwards, then induced a Michael Martinez ground-out for the Cubs' third out of the 10th inning.

Finally, they were over -- both the marathon Game 7 and the curse that haunted the Chicago Cubs for more than a century.

That final out ignited a celebration sure to reverberate across Cleveland, where the Cubs finished off their improbable series comeback from 3-1 down. It ignited a celebration sure to echo through all corners of Chicago and beyond, to everywhere else across the globe where Cubs fans awaited another World Series win year after year after year after year for 108 years.

Exhale now, Cubs fans, and wait no more.