And while I understand with the stakes, the umpires wanted to make the game as fair as possible for both sides, but the timing of the delay was … curious. He’s never going to use the weather as an excuse for his guys, and that’s commendable. Any analytics buff would remind you that both teams entered extra innings with a 50 percent win expectancy.Īfter all, Terry Francona said he didn’t think the delay “was as meaningful as everybody else did” and added that Shaw was “the one we worry about the least, because he stays loose really well and things don’t affect him.” Shaw said he stayed loose, used a heat pack and said “I don’t think it really affected me very much.” So when the Indians retreated to their clubhouse to wait out Mother Nature, the gravity of the moment sunk in.īut to designate the rain delay as the primary culprit for the Indians’ shortcoming is to ignore Bryan Shaw’s pitching or Ben Zobrist’s hitting or Michael Martinez’s presence at the plate with the game hanging in the balance. But once the Indians climbed back into the game, the league had to plan ahead for a potential walk-off win. The Cubs’ clubhouse had been prepped much earlier in the evening, since they held the lead until Davis’ dramatics.
Zack: Meanwhile, the Indians gleefully galloped back to their clubhouse… only to see a room filled with World Series champions decals and plastic sheets intended to prevent champagne from soaking the contents of each locker. Confidence had been restored, nerves had been settled. Stick together and we’re going to win this game.”’ We’ve got to stay positive and fight for your brothers. We play like the score is nothing-nothing. “We’re the best team in baseball, and we’re the best team in baseball for a reason,” Heyward said, according to Tom Verducci’s book “The Cubs Way.” “Now we’re going to show it. Heyward sensed the defeat setting into his teammates and called the players-only meeting. Without the rain delay, there is no speech to settle nerves and calm fears of another historic Cubs collapse.Ĭubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo called it the best rain delay of all time. Without the rain delay, Jason Heyward can’t gather his Cubs teammates in the weight room behind the visitor’s dugout. The Indians didn’t get a moment to compose themselves. Remember when the Indians were three outs from a World Series championship in 1997? Where was the rain then? Not in Miami. And now the Rajai.ĭavis’ home run was so unexpected, so unlikely. Jason: I have no scientific proof of this, of course, but I absolutely believe the Indians win the World Series if it doesn’t rain. There are plenty of What-Ifs to ponder involving Cleveland sports teams, and the infamous, 17-minute delay serves as the basis for today’s debate. And the Cubs united on a soggy infield to celebrate their first title in 108 years.
But once Davis’ home run cleared the 19-foot-high wall in left field, the Indians had life.Īnd then the skies opened. They had trailed all night, a short-handed roster sputtering to the finish line in the battle between the two franchises saddled with the league’s longest championship droughts. In improbable fashion, with Davis’ hands choked up as far as his lumber would allow and Aroldis Chapman pumping 100-mph fastball after 100-mph fastball in his direction, the Indians had tied the Cubs in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the 2016 World Series. Dan Otero leaped onto the bullpen fence “like a spider monkey.” Mike Chernoff nearly fell out of the front office suite. Lonnie Chisenhall’s legs morphed into unstable jelly. Mike Clevinger busted out of the bullpen bathroom, where he had been sequestered in the late innings in a desperate plea for good fortune.
Rajai Davis’ home run ball disappeared into a sea of fans on the home run porch.
We will publish one each day, including on Michael Jordan, if he missed The Shot a reverse of Red Right 88 and what would have happened with no Tattoogate in Columbus. Editor’s note: We are going to explore seven “What If” scenarios this week in Cleveland and Columbus.