For the first time since 1908, the Cubs are World Series Champions.

The Cubs were the preseason favorite to win it all. With 103 wins in the regular season, the Cubs claimed the National League Central. Then, they ousted the Giants in the NLDS and trumped the Dodgers in the NLCS to reach the World Series against the Cleveland Indians, who quickly took a 3-1 lead over the Cubs in the best-of-seven series. While the Cubs could have gone through yet another year of almost-there-but-not-quite games, they instead took the 3-1 series score as a chance to redeem themselves. They won the next two games, tied the series and sent the nation into a whirlwind of anxiety and stress. As the Cubs and Indians battled through the seventh game in the series, everyone was on their toes.

Whether it is because we are living in dorms at Stanford — where our neighbors become our family — or because of the unique situation of the Chicago Cubs in the World Series this year, it seemed as though fans of nearly all baseball teams united to cheer for the Cubs — the most well known underdog in the sport. On Nov. 2, entire dorms crowded around TV sets in lounges or crammed into one-room doubles, streaming the game on laptops on a slight delay. Cheers echoed down the hallways, champagne was popped, and history was made.

As a St. Louisan sitting in my dorm’s lounge next to five Chicago natives nervously grabbing each other’s hands, I couldn’t help but cheer for the Cubs. Up to this point, I’d held my ground; I’d stayed loyal to the Cardinals — to my Red October — and most people had done the same with their respective teams. There was something special about this Game 7 that transformed me into a temporary Cubs fan, and emotions were high.

Chicago native Paul Bischoff ’20 spoke fondly of his childhood as it revolved around the Cubs: “I grew up on baseball. So did my dad, and so did my grandpa.”

Chicago has sports that land on all spectrums of the success scale.

“We have the Bears, the Blackhawks, the Cubs and the Bulls,” Bischoff said. “Out of those, the Blackhawks are the best… For a while, we have one of the best and the worst franchises in history. Being a Chicago native, it’s amazing to finally realize that we don’t have the weak link that the Cubs used to be.”

Near Wrigley, there is a restaurant called the Billy Goat Tavern, founded in 1934 and named after the supposed “curse” on the Cubs.

Bischoff said, “Thinking about that as a Chicago fan and knowing the history behind the curse, it’s so funny to finally see that curse be broken. Speaking for all Cubs fans, the Cubs had one of the longest-suffering fan bases in sports… We’ve been teased so many times.”

But this year, finally, the Cubs transcended the teasing.

Anja Zehfuss ’20, who was born a Cubs fan, said her mom hung up with her on FaceTime because “the game was just too intense,” and Zehfuss herself said she cried with joy that the losing streak was finally broken. 

Erik Miller ’20, a St. Louis Cardinals fan and a pitcher for the Stanford baseball team said with certainty, “[The Cubs] had the best team in baseball this year. That was pretty obvious. I was kind of expecting them to get to that point.”

“Coming back from the 3-1 score of the series was extremely hard to do, but they used their ability to get hot hitting-wise and their pitching down the stretch the last couple of games to bring themselves back into the series,” he added.

Even though he respects the Cubs because of their skill and perseverance it took to end their losing streak, he said, “It’s really tough to watch the playoffs without the Cardinals.”

Another die-hard Cubs fan, Erik Strand ’20, when asked about whether he had thought the Cubs would win, said, “The whole season I thought they would. Throughout the playoffs I was excited, but after Game 4, I wasn’t sure because they weren’t playing the way they were all year. They weren’t doing the things they’d been doing that made them so successful all year, and I started to doubt them.”

Strand said he never really gave up hope.

“It came to me that it might actually happen this year at the end of Game 6 when the Cubs won,” he said. “It was a tied series, and they had the momentum. I had a feeling they were going to get the last game. Once they gave up the home run in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 7, I was worried… Every series there is one thing that throws them off, and I was worried that was going to be it.”

It wasn’t.

The rain delay after the ninth was possibly the best thing that could’ve happened for the Cubs. It brought the momentum back and allowed them a chance to collect themselves as a team. They came out and closed.

Strand, who sat front row in his dorm during Game 7 with his fellow Cubs fans, was surrounded by people who could not help but cheer for the Cubs’ win.

“It was intense,” he said. “It was really fun. There were only four of us that were really Cubs fans, but everyone else was really into it. It made me feel like I was in Chicago.”

 

Contact Mitzi Harris at msharris ‘at’ stanford.edu.