968 Detroit Tigers and 1985 Kansas City Royals as one Cubs first title

CLEVELAND -- It all began with a baseball bromance. With the Chicago Cubs trailing Cleveland 3-games-to-1 in the World Series, manager Joe Maddon handed the ball to veteran lefty Jon Lester with a plea to save the season. And where Jon Lester goes, his good friend and personal catcher, David Ross, is sure to follow.The comeback continued with a road win at Progressive Field, followed by another, and finally a celebration in the visiting clubhouse early Thursday morning. With an 8-7, 10-inning victory over the Cleveland Indians in Game 7, the Cubs brought a halt to 108 years of parade-free baseball on Chicagos North Side. They also scripted a neat twist ending to a season that could have easily spiraled in the opposite direction.Think back to Saturday night, and things were looking grim for the Cubs in their quest to break the franchises title drought. Corey Kluber was cutting a swath through the Chicago lineup, John Lackey was grousing about the strike zone, and the Indians seized control of the series with a 7-2 victory in Game 4. Every move by Indians manager Terry Francona seemed to go smoothly, and even when there was room for debate, Kluber, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen were so dominant it didnt matter.But the Cubs sensed they werent finished, and the people who watched them all season thought the same. For all the talk about the Cubs dominating the competition with 103 regular-season victories, they endured enough character builders to know what they were capable of when truly challenged.A prime case in point: The National League Championship Series, when they fell behind the Dodgers 2-1 before outscoring Los Angeles 23-6 over the final three games.We never quit, Lester said. Thats been kind of our motto the whole year. I know people kind of laugh at us. We won 103 games and the guys in here act like we grinded out the season. But we really did. We had stretches where we didnt play all that well and guys didnt pitch well, or hit well, or play good defense. But we kept the mindset of Well show up today and play and see what happens. Thats a testament to the guys in here.Lester pitched six effective innings in Game 5, and Ross drove in the eventual winning run with a sacrifice fly before receiving a shoutout from Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder during the seventh-inning stretch. And Maddon, perhaps inspired by Franconas unorthodox use of Miller, stretched out closer Aroldis Chapman for eight outs and 42 pitches as the Cubs squeezed out a 3-2 win to send it back to Cleveland.In hindsight, the trip back to Cleveland for Games 6 and 7 might have been therapeutic for the Cubs. They had a chance to take a deep breath and reassess, away from the intense scrutiny that has followed them since the start of spring training. They had also developed a comfort level with Progressive Field after splitting the first two games of the series.We had already seen everything we needed to see, outfielder Jason Heyward said. We saw Kluber in the first game. Kluber is going to be Kluber. If he has it going, he has it going. If he doesnt, you have to try to maximize the situation, because his worst day is a lot of other peoples best day.Kluber notwithstanding, Maddon and the Cubs were perfectly content with the Games 6 and 7 pitching matchups. While Chicagos Jake Arrieta and Kyle Hendricks were both going on full rest, their Cleveland counterparts, Josh Tomlin and Kluber, were being pushed to the limit on three days rest.The Cubs also accrued some tangible benefits from playing under American League rules. Kyle Schwarber, who was available strictly as a pinch hitter during the National League leg of the series, was back in the lineup at designated hitter and hit .438 (7-for-16) in the four games at Progressive Field.With so many Cubs fans in the stands, it sure didnt seem like a hostile environment. Indeed, the pivotal moment in Chicagos 9-3 victory in Game 6 came when an Addison Russell fly ball dropped between Cleveland outfielders Tyler Naquin and Lonnie Chisenhall for a gift double. Not long afterward, Russell gave Cubs fans even more reason to cheer with a grand slam off Dan Otero.There was a lot of blue in the stands -- Cubbie blue -- and they were waiting to erupt every time something went our way, Heyward said.In Game 7, Chicagos lineup kept grinding out at-bats and the bullpen somehow survived. Chapman had almost nothing left in the tank for his 35 pitches, Carl Edwards Jr. and Mike Montgomery combined to close it out in the 10th inning, and Lester threw three innings in his first relief appearance since the 2007 season in Boston. This is whats commonly known as contributing to the cause.I dont think anybody is super-comfortable with something theyve never done, Lester said. Ive done it three times in my career, and that was a hell of a long time ago, when I still had stuff and it didnt matter. At this time of year, you do what youve got to do. Joe asked me to do it, and Im not going to turn him down.The Cubs are in exclusive company having overcome a 3-1 deficit to win a World Series. They joined the 1903 Boston Pilgrims, 1925 and 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, 1958 New York Yankees, 1968 Detroit Tigers and 1985 Kansas City Royals as one of seven teams to achieve the feat.While the Cubs first title since 1908 is special enough without any extra bells and whistles, the veterans and young players on the roster can all take a smidge more gratification in having made history the hard way. That said, it might be a while before they grasp the true degree of difficulty of their achievement.Some of the guys in here are so young, I really dont think they understand what they just accomplished, Lester said. I dont think theyll understand it until they get a little bit older. Wholesale Nike Shoes Canada . The parade and rally were held to celebrate the Saskatchewan Roughriders 45-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday in the CFLs championship game. 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PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Pirates play their final home game of the season Thursday, and its a proposition welcomed by them only because they wont play the Chicago Cubs again until 2017.For the first time since 2012, there will be no autumnal postseason baseball in Pittsburgh that Pirates fans like to refer to as Buctober, and the Cubs are greatly the reason why.The Pirates will wrap up an unsatisfying 2016 season at PNC Park, where they are 38-42, including a 5-17 record in their last 22 home games. Its been quite the turnaround, given that the Pirates (192 home wins since 2013) trail only the Los Angeles Dodgers (200) and St. Louis Cardinals (194) in home wins since the 2013 season.This season, its the Cubs whove made themselves at home, winning a major league-leading 57 games at home -- the kind of mastery they hope to carry into the postseason next week, with home field advantage through the NL playoffs. Theyve also gone 14-4 against the Pirates, despite losing 8-4 Wednesday as Pirates first baseman John Jaso became the first player to hit for the cycle in PNC Park.First, though, theyve got to wrap up their best regular season since 1910 with the game in Pittsburgh and three more in Cincinnati this weekend. And that means continuing to give at-bats to their key regulars -- six of their eight position player starters Wednesday night were starters -- and to give a glance or two to some prospects.That includes rookie left-hander Rob Zastryzny, their second round pick in 2013 whos off to a promising start with a 1-0 record and 1.46 ERA in seven relief appearances. Hell make his major league starting debut Thursday night, opposing veteran Pirates right-hander Ivan Nova (12-8, 4.37 ERA).Zastryzny has an interesting background. He was born in Edmonton before moving at age 1 to Dallas where, true to his Canadian roots, he excelled inn youth hockey before switching to baseball.ddddddddddddI had it (hockey) in my blood, he told the Chicago Tribune. But, after playing in a tournament against Canadian players in which he realized he might not be as good as he initially thought, his parents told him, You know what? Heres a baseball, try that.Cubs manager Joe Maddon likes what he sees of Zastryzny so far, even thought the left-hander has appeared in only three games this month.His stuff is good and hes a strike thrower, and I love strike throwers, Maddon said.This will be Novas 11th start since the Pirates acquired him from the New York Yankees on Aug. 1, and so far hes been exactly what Jonathon Niese, Francisco Liriano and Juan Nicasio werent to Pittsburgh -- an effective starter. He is 5-2 with a 3.49 ERA, 47 strikeouts and only three walks with the Pirates, one reason why they want to bring him back next season if they can afford him.Hes been a really good get for us, and thats an understatement, manager Clint Hurdle told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.However, Nova has been less effective lately, giving up 18 hits and nine earned runs in seven innings over his last two starts after going 5-0 in his first eight Pirates starts. He lasted four innings during a 6-1 loss to the Washington Nationals, giving up eight hits and five earned runs.The past three seasons, the Pirates were gearing up for the postseason -- they lost to the Cardinals in a five-game NLDS in 2013, and to the Giants (2014) and the Cubs and Arrieta (2015) in the NL wild card game at PNC Park the previous two seasons.Now, theyre gearing up for the offseason.Ill finally get to sleep in my own bed for the first time in eight months, Pirates right-hander Jameson Taillon said. ' ' '