Reliving the Cubs' 2016 Postseason Highlights

 As we enter the final stretch for baseball in 2021- a Braves/Astros World Series, it's a good time to look back at memorable Cubs' history in 2016, when the Cubs broke a 108 year WS win drought to beat the Indians in the World Series.

The Cubs cruised to a 103-58 standing at the end of the season, getting the NL Central pennant and meaning they'd face the winner of the Wild Card, who ended up being the Giants.

Game One of the NLDS

Jon Lester threw 8 shut-out innings, Chapman closed the 9th with a shut-out against the Giants and Javier Baez solo-homered in the 8th to give the Cubs a 1-0 win against the Giants and get the 1-0 series lead.

Game Two of the NLDS

Kyle Hendricks started the game, only allowing 2 runs, and he drove in 2 runs himself in the 2nd with a single, but he left the game in the 3rd due to a line-drive injury. Reliever Travis Wood replaced Hendricks, and hit a home run, yes a home run in the 4th to give the Cubs a 5-2 lead. That was the first homer to be hit by a reliever in the postseason since 1924. Chapman got the save, and the Cubs got the 2-0 series lead.

Game Three of the NLDS

Jake Arrieta (this was before he was terrible- remember that?) started the game, and the Giants scored 2 runs off of him, and another 3 runs in the 8th, but Arrieta hit a 3-run homer in the 2nd (pitchers could actually hit back then...) and Bryant hit a 2-run homer in the 9th to tie the game 5-5. The battle lasted into the 13th, when the Giants scored a walk-off by Joe Panik.

Game Four of the NLDS

With the win of the series at hand, the Cubs started John Lackey. He lasted into the 5th, but allowed 4 runs, soon to be 5 as Justin Grimm relieved him in the 5th. David Ross (remember he played for the Cubs? Seems a while ago now...) hit a solo homer in the 3rd, and a sac-fly in the 5th, but the Cubs were down 5-2 going into the 9th. 

However, the Giants ended up using five pitchers in the inning as Kris Bryant singled, Rizzo walked, and Zobrist doubled to score Bryant and tighten the game at 5–3. Joe Maddon then decided to pinch hit for Addison Russell and his 95 RBIs with little-used Chris Couglan. This caused Giants manager Bruce Bochy to counter with lefty reliever Will Smith and Maddon went to rookie catcher Willson Contreras instead. Contreras promptly singled up the middle to tie the game at five. Jason Heyward attempted sacrifice bunt was too hard and Contreras was forced out at second, but gold-glove winner Crawford's throw to first ended up in the dugout allowing Heyward to reach second with one out. 

Javier Báez then singled up the middle to complete the comeback and give the Cubs the 6–5 lead. Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth as the Cubs eliminated the Giants and moved on to the NLCS. The Cubs' comeback marked the biggest comeback in postseason-clinching history.-Wikipedia

Game One of the NLCS

Now the Cubs had to face the Dodgers. Lester started and pitched 6 innings, allowing only one run. The Cubs scored in the first with a Fowler single and a double by Bryant to bring him home. In the 2nd, Heyward tripled and Baez doubled to score him. Baez advanced to third on a wild pitch, and stole home(!) on a late throw home.

The Cubs were up 3-1 in the 8th when the Dodgers scored 2 runs to tie the game. In the bottom of the 8th, bases were loaded for Montero, pinch hitting. He swung on an 0-2 count and hit a grand slam to make the game 7-3. Fowler then hit a solo homer and Rondon allowed one run in the 9th to make the final score 8-4 and the Cubs had the 1-0 series lead.

Game Two of the NLCS

Kershaw made the Cubs' offense go bad in both game two and three, pitching 4 perfect innings, and overall 7 scoreless innings. Kenley Jansen closed the game in the 8th and 9th, and the Dodgers beat the Cubs 1-0. Hendricks, who started for the Cubs, did well, allowing only one run, but that was not enough, as the Cubs just couldn't hit that night.

Game Three of the NLCS

Again, the Cubs' offense was quiet, and the Dodgers homered twice off of Arrieta, plus some other runs, leading to a Dodgers' 6-0 win over the Cubs, who had now fallen to a 1-2 in the series.

Game Four of the NLCS

As the game started, it seemed that once again the Cubs' bats would not score runs, but in the 4th, the Cubs' offense started waking up. The Cubs scored 4 runs in the 4th, 1 in the 5th, and then 5 in the 6th, as all the Cubs' offense started going hot. John Lackey, who started for the Cubs, surrendered only 2 runs over 4 innings, but the Cubs' bullpen was excellent the rest of the game, leading to a 10-2 victory and a tied 2-2 series.

Game Five of the NLCS

The Cubs scored 1 run in the first, but left runners stranded in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th innings, but in the 6th, the Cubs scored on a Russell 2-run homer. It was a 2-2 deadlock until the 8th, when the Cubs scored 5 runs, due mainly to a bases loaded double by Baez. The Dodgers put up 1 run against Lester, who continued his playoff dominance, and 3 more in the 8th and 9th, but it was not enough as the Cubs won 8-4 and now had the 3-2 series lead.

Game Six of the NLCS

The Cubs brought in Hendricks to start the pivotal Game 6, and were not disapointed. Hendricks allowed only 2 hits, and 0 runs over 8 innings, before closer Chapman came in and closed the game in the 9th. In the game, they faced only 27 batters, the minimum number of batters that could be faced, due mainly to a large number of double plays.

The Cubs scored early off of Kershaw, scoring 4 runs over 4 innings, before he was pulled. Rizzo and Contreras both homered, and overall scored 6 runs, beating the Dodgers 6-0 and advancing to the World Series!

Game One of the World Series

The Cubs now went on to face the Indians in the World Series. The Indians won game one 6-0 as the Cubs' offense went quiet again against Corey Kluber. Lester allowed 3 runs over his start, and the Cubs were down 0-1 in the World Series.

Game Two of the World Series

In Game 2, things went better for the Cubs, who scored early off of Trevor Bauer (who was pulled in the 4th), while Arrieta carried a no-hitter into the 6th, until the Indians managed to score a run against him. Rizzo had a great game, driving in runs in the 1st and 3rd. The Cubs scored 3 runs in the 5th, and won the game 5-1 and tied the series 1-1.

Game Three of the World Series

The Cubs threatened to score multiple times in the game, but the Indians managed to end the threat each time. While only scoring 1 run of their own (A Coco Crisp single), the Indians beat the Cubs 1-0, and Hendricks, who only lasted into the 5th, did not allow any runs. Now the Indians were up 2-1.

Game Four of the World Series

The Cubs scored in the 1st against Kluber, but Lackey couldn't maintain the lead, allowing 3 runs over 5 innings. The Cubs couldn't score again until the 8th, a Fowler homer, but it wasn't enough, as the Cubs lost 7-2 to the Indians and fell to a 1-3 hole. But they didn't give up...

Game Five of the World Series

The Cubs were facing elimination, but they battled, with Bryant homering in the 4th, along with a Russell single, and a David Ross sac-fly to score 3 runs. That was enough, as Lester threw 6 strong innings, allowing only 2 runs. By a short margin, the Cubs beat the Indians 3-2, with Chapman pitching a 8-out save.

Game Six of the World Series

With Tomlin on the mound for the Indians, the Cubs scored 3 runs in the first; a Bryant homer, and a Russell single to drive in 2 runs. That wasn't it, as Cubs loaded the bases in the 3rd for Russell, who belted a grand slam to give the Cubs a 7-0 lead. In the 9th, Rizzo hit a 2-run homer to increase their score to 9. Arrieta was solid, pitching 6 innings and allowing 2 runs. The Cubs won the game 9-2 and the series was now tied at 3 apiece for an all-deciding game 7 for the World Series.

Game Seven of the World Series

A good summary of Game 7 is this: chaos. The Cubs started with a Fowler leadoff homer, but then things started going wild. The Indians countered with a run in the 3rd, making the score 1-1. The Cubs scored 2 in the 4th and 5th, with a Russell single, Contreras sac-fly, Baez home run, and a Rizzo single. The Indians then scored 2 in the 5th to make it 5-3. The Cubs added a run in the 6th (Ross homerun), seemingly making it a wide enough margin to win. But the Indians scored 3 in the bottom of the 8th, a Davis home run tying the game at 6.

Neither team could score in the 9th, so to the 10th it went. A 17-minute rain delay and a Heyward speech to the team led to motivation in the 10th. Zobrist doubled to drive in a run, then Montero singled to drive in another. Now the Cubs had a 8-6 lead. In the bottom of the 10th, Davis hit a single to bring the game within one run. Montgomery came in with 2 outs to face Martinez, a pitcher, because the Indians were out of position players.

On the second pitch, Martinez hit a soft groundball to Bryant, who threw to Rizzo in time to get the out and win the 2016 World Series. Absolutely incredible 3 game winning streak to win the World Series for the first time since 1908, a 108 year drought.

Can the Cubs repeat this?

Yes...but perhaps not in the same way. It will probably not be in 2022, but 2023 and beyond? The future of the Cubs is exciting...and I hope you're excited by it too!

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