Latest / Bleacher Report / Inside One of the Greatest World Series Comebacks Ever | 2016 Cubs ft. Dexter Fowler

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Inside One of the Greatest World Series Comebacks Ever | 2016 Cubs ft. Dexter Fowler · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This is Dexter Fowler, 2016 World Series champion with the
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Chicago Cubs.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: It was one of the most fun seasons I've ever
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  Speaker 2: been a part of.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: And he's going to take you through their entire championship
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: run as only someone who was there can.
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  Speaker 2: I don't want to see it. I don't want to
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  Speaker 2: see this. Welcome to the run.
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  Speaker 1: The 2016 Cubs ended the regular season with 105 wins,
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  Speaker 1: the number one seed in the National League and the
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  Speaker 1: best record in baseball. The playoff expectations were high. Win
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  Speaker 1: the World Series and break a 108-year World Series drought
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  Speaker 1: for the north side of Chicago.
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  Speaker 2: It didn't feel like pressure to us. We were brothers
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  Speaker 2: in the clubhouse. It was... A lot of different personalities,
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: a lot of veterans, really good young players. It was
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: a great mix. And then you had, you know, Joe
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Maddon would let us do what we wanted to do,
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  Speaker 2: so the boys were the boys. The curse was, it
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: was more the onus on the fans. I mean, we
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: knew there was a curse, but we didn't, I don't
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  Speaker 2: think anybody really believed it until we got to the moment.
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  Speaker 1: The Cubs would face the San Francisco Giants in the NLDS,
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  Speaker 1: a team that had won three World Series that decade already.
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  Speaker 1: To become the champs, they would have to knock out
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  Speaker 1: the class of the National League. and game one was
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  Speaker 1: a nail-biter. Giants veteran Johnny Cueto pitched into the eighth
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  Speaker 1: inning allowing zero runs. Someone had to kickstart the Cubs postseason.
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  Speaker 2: Bottom of the eighth, 0-0, locked up, and Javi went deep.
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  Speaker 2: Baez sends it deep to left. Pagan is there at
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  Speaker 2: the wall, and it's in the basket! I love Javi.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Javi plays with so much swag. He always looked like
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: he was having fun playing the game, and I really
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: respected that, especially being that young and being that polished.
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  Speaker 1: After Game 1, the Cubs would also take Game 2
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  Speaker 1: at Wrigley. Game 3 saw the Giants win on a
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  Speaker 1: walk-off double, but the Cubs were still up 2-1, only
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: needing to win one of their next two games to
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  Speaker 1: advance to the NLCS. Game 4 was a wild one.
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  Speaker 1: Down 5-2 going into the top of the ninth, the
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  Speaker 1: Cubs bats came alive to give the Cubs a 6-5 lead.
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  Speaker 1: The Cubs would advance to the NLCS, and they celebrated accordingly.
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  Speaker 2: If anybody knows about the 2016 Cubs, we like to party.
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  Speaker 2: We flooded a lot of clubhouses with all the beer
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  Speaker 2: and champagne and everything. We celebrated every win we had. Because,
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  Speaker 2: you know, a win in the big leagues is a
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: win in the big leagues. And that's one step closer
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  Speaker 2: to your final goal. And we had a countdown. So,
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  Speaker 2: you know, knock one off. We got one of the
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: teams out. Now it's on to the next one. But
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  Speaker 2: we celebrated all the time after every win. It was
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  Speaker 2: one of the most fun seasons I've ever been a
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  Speaker 2: part of.
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  Speaker 1: The Cubs were in the NLCS for the second year
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  Speaker 1: in a row and would face the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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  Speaker 1: Game one would be at Wrigley, with the Cubs getting
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: out to a quick early lead But the Dodgers crawled back.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: The Cubs needed late-game heroics, and they got them from
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: an unlikely source.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: Here comes the 0-2. High drive into right, back at
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  Speaker 2: the wall, it is gone! Grand slam, Montero! Miggy is
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  Speaker 2: a vet of the vets. You know, he's always ready
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  Speaker 2: to come in when he comes in, and, you know,
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  Speaker 2: he's always eager to play. I got chills when you
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: played that. It's, you know, obviously I'm coming with the bat,
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  Speaker 2: And he does a curtain call. So I had to
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  Speaker 2: step out. And the fans were still on their feet.
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  Speaker 2: And I was like, this dude's going to try to
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  Speaker 2: get ahead. And so I was ready to swing. First pitch.
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  Speaker 2: I don't even think anybody remembers my home run. Fowler
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  Speaker 2: charges one into right. Back into that well. This one
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  Speaker 2: is gone. Back to back. 8-3. I mean, you could
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  Speaker 2: feel the stadium rocking. And, you know, that fuels us.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: So that's why they call it the friendly confines. When
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: we get in there and You know, it's loud and
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  Speaker 2: it's a playoff atmosphere. It's one of the best places
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  Speaker 2: ever to play. The mood in the clubhouse was we,
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  Speaker 2: you know, that was a great game, a well-played game,
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  Speaker 2: but they're not going to go down easy.
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  Speaker 1: After winning game one, the Cubs would get shut out
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  Speaker 1: back-to-back games as the Dodgers would take games two and three.
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  Speaker 1: Down 2-1, the bats needed to wake up. The Cubs'
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  Speaker 1: offense would explode in games four and five, combining for
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  Speaker 1: 18 runs to take a 3-2 series lead. The Chicago
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Cubs were now just one win away from making it
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  Speaker 1: to their first World Series since 1945. Game six would
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  Speaker 1: be a battle of the aces, Clayton Kershaw versus Kyle Hendricks.
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  Speaker 1: Hendricks would not allow a run, pitching into the eighth
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  Speaker 1: inning before handing the ball off to Aroldis Chapman to
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  Speaker 1: record the final five outs.
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  Speaker 2: A masterpiece for the 26-year-old. Kyle's the professor. That's what
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: we call him. He's a tactician, man. He's like Maddox.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: He doesn't throw real hard, not overpowering, hits his spots.
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  Speaker 2: Like you'll be 0 for 4 and you'll be like,
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: how did I go 0 for 4? And it's not
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  Speaker 2: hard contact either. Guys are, they try to get too
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  Speaker 2: big and, you know, try to take them deep and
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: all that. And, you know, you look up and he's
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: at 80 pitches and it's the eighth inning, seventh or
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: eighth inning. So I love Kyle because his demeanor is just,
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: he's even keel whether he's losing, winning. And you respect
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: that on the mound. If a guy, you know, gives
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  Speaker 2: up a hit or whatnot, he's getting the ball right
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  Speaker 2: back and he's going right back at him. He's one
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  Speaker 2: of those unsung heroes that was a big, huge part
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: of our team. We're pretty confident with Chappie on the mound.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: At the time, he's probably one of the best closers
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  Speaker 2: we've ever seen, especially, you know, in that era. And,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: you know, we got him for a reason and we
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: had a lot of trust in him. Left side. Out!
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  Speaker 2: Me jumping over everybody. Crowd surfing. Here I come right now.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Everybody's just so happy, and it's a great moment. It's
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  Speaker 2: a great moment in sports. It's a great moment for us,
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: you know, going to our first World Series, being a Cubby,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: doing it at home against the Dodgers. There's a lot
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  Speaker 2: to be said right there. I mean, you know, just
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: what everybody's gone through the whole year. Just everybody contributing and,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: you know, having everybody out at one time and knowing
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  Speaker 2: we're going to World Series and we're one step closer.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: For the first time in 71 years, the Cubs were
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: in the World Series and they would play the Cleveland Indians.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: While the Cubs were there to break their own drought,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: the Indians were also facing a World Series drought of
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: 68 years.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: We knew they were a really good team. So Barry
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: Bonds is one of my mentors. And I remember Jose Fernandez,
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: God rest his soul, He told Barry, because Barry worked
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: for the Marlins, and he pitched against both of us,
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: and he said, those two teams right there are the
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: hardest lineups that I've ever had to go through. Barry
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: had told me that, and I told the boys, he goes,
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: these guys get on base, they steal bases, they play
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: a complete game. And they don't have really the horses
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: that y'all have, but you got to be careful with them.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: The Cubs did not get off to a good start
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: in the 2016 World Series, dropping three of their first
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: four games. Cleveland was up three games to one and
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  Speaker 1: on the brink of their first title in 68 years.
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  Speaker 1: But the Cubs did not panic. Game five was a
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  Speaker 1: grinded-out game for the Cubs. Jon Lester would go six innings,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: exiting with a 3-2 lead. Roldis Chapman entered in the
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: seventh inning, recording the final eight outs of the game
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: for Chicago to keep their season alive. The feeling of
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: belief that they could win three in a row was
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: felt throughout the clubhouse and fan base.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: I felt it after game five. Honestly, I think everybody
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: felt it after game five. We knew we just had
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  Speaker 2: to go out and play our game. We didn't play
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: complete baseball those first three or four games. We're the
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: better team, we know that. And it's about going out
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  Speaker 2: and doing it. That year, I don't know, we had
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: a 10 game winning streak or whatnot. So we knew
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: we could win three games in a row. I remember
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: we were going to Cleveland for six and seven, but
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: it was Halloween and we were supposed to be up
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: there for practice. And Joe said, we're not going up there.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: We're not going to practice. Like, go hang out with
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: your families. Go take your kids trick or treating. And
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: then we'll jump on a plane in the morning and go. And,
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: you know, to see our manager say that to us,
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  Speaker 2: he already knew that we were ready. So I think
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: after game five, he was like, all right, we're about
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  Speaker 2: to roll.
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  Speaker 1: Game six would be a blowout win for the Cubs,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: evening the series 3-3. There would be a game seven.
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  Speaker 2: Cubs, Indians.
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  Speaker 1: The winner would break a title for their franchise that
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: hadn't seen one in almost 70 years. And game seven
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  Speaker 1: would be led off by Dexter Fowler.
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  Speaker 2: I remember taking a speedball. Bill Murray told us about
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: a speedball, me and Riz, which is like a shot
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: of Crown, half a five-hour energy, and the rest of
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: the Crown, or the Woodford, or whatever it was. Crown
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: was my choice. So I took that, me and Riz together.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: And I remember getting out on the field and just
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: seeing everybody. It was electric. But to see how many
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Cubs fans were there, it was amazing. I remember going
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: on deck and the speedball kicked in. And I remember
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: my mind was going so slow. But my heart, I
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: looked down and I felt like my jersey was going
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: like this. I was like, this is the craziest concoction
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: I've ever had. I never looked at, like... So we
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: had an umpire's, like, call spray chart. And... I think
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: it was Sam Holbrook. And I look up there, and
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: I'm like, wait, so if I'm hitting left-handed, he's going
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: to give him a little bit off the plate away.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: But inside, it has to be on the plate. He's
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: not giving it on the black, no nothing. And I'm like,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: the first game, Kluber's been killing us with this hip shot.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: and we all thought it was balls and they're close
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: pitches but they've been going his way and so i
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: remember the first pitch of the game was a And this,
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: like I said, this is the first time I've ever
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: looked up the umpire's heat chart. The next pitch was
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: that hip shot that he always throws. Close pitch. Might
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: and could have called a strike, called it a ball,
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: and I was like, this dude, he's done. If he
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: has to throw the ball over the plate, we're going
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: to kill him. So the next pitch was up and away,
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: and I said, 2-1, I said, he's going to try
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: to come with that hip shot, but it's going to
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: be a little further on the plate. And he left
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: it over the plate, and I went deep. I hit
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: the ball so high, everybody's looking at the ball, And
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: I usually dab up my first base coach, and I
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: missed him. Because I was looking at the ball, too.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: It was so quiet running. All you could hear was
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: the Cubs fans. To quiet that place on that game,
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: I mean, you had LeBron there. Everybody was there. I
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: really took pride in getting on base and getting things going. Because,
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: you know, they showed me a stat. And it was like,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: when you get on base twice a game, we win
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: 90% or 80% of the time. Something crazy like that.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: And that's how he came up with the you-go-we-go. Joe,
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: I mean, we had a handshake before every game, and
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: he said, hey, you go, we go. And I said,
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: all right, man, I got you. You know, obviously I
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: didn't know I was going to go deep, but I
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: knew I was trying to, you know, start it off right.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Cleveland would tie the game in the bottom of the third,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: but the Cubs would rattle the bats in the fourth
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: and fifth inning, scoring two runs in each. It was
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: 5-1 in the fifth before Cleveland would score two runs
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: on a wild pitch. David Ross, the catcher who had
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: the ball bounce away from him, would hit a home
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: run the next inning to make it 6-3 Cubs.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: That score would.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Hold until Aroldis Chapman entered the game in the eighth
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: inning with the Cubs four outs away from winning the
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: World Series. After a two-out RBI double from Brandon Guyer
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: made it 6-4, Rajay Davis stepped up to the plate.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: I don't want to see it. I don't want to
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: see this. Live in the left. And it's gone. Tie game.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: Rajay Davis. 6-6. It went from being quiet to being
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: that loud, that quick. And we got a new ball game.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: And I remember, it's funny because I was a brand
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: Jordan guy. I told them I wanted to wear the
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: 11s if we made it to the World Series. And
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: they were like, if you win a World Series, you
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: can have your own 11s. I was like, wait, what?
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: Is that really a thing? And I'm in center, and
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: as soon as he hit that home run, I was like,
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: there's no way that just happened. Like, I remember thinking,
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: sounds crazy, but I was thinking, he took away my Jordans.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: The ninth inning resulted in no runs, meaning we were
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: headed to extra innings in Game 7 of the World Series.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: But then, before the 10th inning could start, Mother Nature
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: got in the way.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: Anytime, you know, the manager comes out, you know, between
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: innings and the umpire is going to talk to the managers,
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: you're like, this is about to be rain delay. Like,
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: it's coming in quick. And it started pouring bad. And
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: they stopped the game, pulled the tarp, which is fortunate
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: because the boys were just still in shock that, you know,
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: we gave up the lead and these dudes are tied.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: They got the last at bat. You know, our backs
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: are against the wall. Our whole team was down there.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: No coaches, just the players. Jay Hay had called the
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: meetings And Jay Hay, you know, had enough field awareness
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: to know that, you know, we needed to regroup. Chappie
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: was distraught. I said, bro, you're still out there. We
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: still need you. You know, we're at 0-0. Like, we
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: could still go do this. And I remember Chappie's, like,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: his whole aura just went from down here to up there. And,
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: you know, we came back out with a fire lit
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: up under us.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: The Cubs got to catch their breath. But now it
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: was back to business. And the rested Cubs would need
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: a cast of characters to jump on reliever Brian Shaw quick.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: I think we were fired up after the meeting. And everybody,
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: we just took that energy. Right when we came out,
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: we were ready to go. Like nothing had ever happened.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: The Cubs would take an 8-6 lead into the bottom
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: of the 10th. But more two-out heroics from Rajay Davis
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: made it a one-run game again. Cleveland's Michael Martinez stepped
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: up to the plate with two outs and a runner
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: on first.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Here's the 0-1. This is going to be a tough play. Bryant,
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: the Cubs win the World Series. Bryant makes the play.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: I saw KB slip, and I was like, no, he
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: didn't just overthrow this. And it was head high, which
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: was awesome. I was just like, we did it. I said,
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: thank you, Lord. Dabbed my teammates up, and I was
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: just full right there. I mean, how epic that game was,
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: and for us to come out on top and really
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: solidify it. a legacy, it was crazy. It started raining again,
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: so we took everything, like the trophy celebrations usually out
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: on the field, we had it in the locker room.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: I don't even think anybody even heard what Rob was
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: saying because we were so drunk and there was bottles
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: popping while he was trying to speak and everybody was like,
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: we couldn't calm down. I mean, Bill Murray was in there,
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: Cusack was in there, Eddie Vedder was in there, Lifelong
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Cubs fans, stars that were in there celebrating with us,
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: the Ricketts, the whole Ricketts family, our families. It was
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: a time. It was epic. It was an epic celebration.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: I was more emotional than I expected. I cried. Like,
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: I'm like, you know, it's on TV. Like, I'm doing
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: an interview and I'm crying. And I'm like, what are
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: you doing? But it's just the emotions of the season,
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: the emotions of, you know, winning a World Series and
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: the World Series, as I call it. And, like, the relief.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: I mean, 108 years. Something like that happens. And we
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: went to the White House. Michelle Obama said, I'm a
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: Cubs fan because of my dad. It brings back memories
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: for everybody. We realized the gravity. You realize it after.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: And you get the stories of my grandmother. Like, this
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: made their life. They died a week after that. And
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: you get those stories. I continue to get those stories.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: And it's like, we're legends.