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UPDATE: Why is Everyone in America Talking About Baseball?
The Chicago Cubs won their first World Series in 108 years, beating the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in 10 innings.
The Cubs led 6-3 after the first six innings but Cleveland scored three runs in the bottom of the eight to tie it up. Neither team scored in the ninth, and after a brief rain delay the game went into extra innings.
Both teams hoped to end long droughts without a world title: the Cubs last won in 1908 while the Indians' last series win was in 1948.
Despite the Cubs being favored to win the series, Cleveland was a game away from claiming the title after winning the first, third and fourth games of the series. But Chicago won three straight – including the final two in Cleveland - to end the longest stretch without a World Series win by any team in baseball.
Original story starts here:
This Major League Baseball World Series has brought fans out of the woodwork because it matches up two teams who have the longest World Series droughts in baseball.
America loves underdogs, and this year's World Series has two of them: The Cleveland Indians have not won a pennant since 1948, and the Chicago Cubs have not won since 1908!
The Indians are in the American League. They won in the playoffs, or the games that decided who would go to the World Series. According to the Indians website, the team has been in existence since 1901, and have won only two World Series titles. Once in 1920, and once in 1948.
Carlos Santana's game-winning catch to advance the Indians to the World Series
This means that the last time the Indians won the World Series:- A man hadn’t landed on the moon
- Israel had just declared itself an independent state
- It was the year that President Truman defeated Dewey. (And not the other way around.)
The Cubs are a part of the National League. The last time the Cubs appeared in the World Series was 1945. But they lost. The Cubs only have one World Series title under their belt, the one they won in 1908.
The Cubs celebrate clinching a trip to the World Series
This means that the last time the Cubs won the World Series:- Neither World War had occurred
- Sliced bread wasn’t in existence
- The Ottoman Empire still existed
The World Series is played over seven games, going back and forth between the two stadiums of the participating baseball teams. Whoever wins four of seven wins the World Series title. The first two World Series games of 2016 will be played at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio. CNN Money reported that the average ticket price for the four possible games in Cleveland is $3,900.
In Chicago, Illinois at Wrigley Field, the ticket prices are even more steep. CNN Money reports that the average asking price for the three possible games is $7,200 a seat. Jesse Lawrence, the founder and CEO of TicketIQ told CNN that, "We've never seen anything like this before. ... We may never see it again,” as this series is even beating out previous Super Bowl ticket averages.
The World Series is a match-up played after the regular 162 game season, and the two to three rounds of playoffs after that point. The Wild Card game comes first and is a newer (and more confusing) feature of the World Series, and the New York Times has great background information on it. The Division Series, and the Championship Series follow afterward in that order. To get to the World Series, a team from each league of baseball must win both of these series. In the World Series, a team must win four of seven games to officially claim the championship title.
No matter which team claims the title, this World Series will be one for the history books. One title drought will be broken, and another will drag on. Game 2 of the series airs tonight at 7 PM on Fox, as the Indians lead the series 1-0. The full list of games is located here.
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