We're Not Worthy of These Epic Game 7s

Sports fans witnessed yet another epic Game 7 as the World Series matched the drama of the NBA Finals from four June. We're not worthy of these classics.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

What did we do to deserve this? Maybe it’s because 2016 has been such a depressing year, full of bad vibes and even worse takes, highlighted by a presidential election so rancid cyanide seems like a pretty good option right about now. But sports—the ultimate outlet from the nonsense of the real world—blessed us with another epic Game 7. Our second in four months.

We truly are not worthy.

I’ll try and keep the poetic waxing about how epic last night’s game was to a minimum because there are brilliant writers who were actually at Progressive Field, and not sitting on their couch bleary eyed, who can paint a picture of what it meant for the Cubs to end 108 years of futility, despite their supposed genius manager Joe Maddon doing everything in his power to sabotage their chances. There are columnists who can succinctly wrap up the ecstasy of a breathtaking eighth-inning comeback off a (normally) unhittable flame-throwing reliever only to be bludgeoned by the reality of ultimately falling one run short of winning the franchise’s first title since 1948 a hell of a lot better than I can. 

We got to experience the absurd, the improbable, the jubilation of a most unexpected comeback, and the satisfaction of actually seeing the last great curse in major sports come to an end. 

But it is worth basking in the glory of the privilege of getting to experience yet another legendarily dramatic Game 7 after what we witnessed in June with the NBA Finals.

Following the Cavaliers improbable comeback from a 3-1 deficit over the greatest team in regular season history, a few of us wrote about where it ranked among the greatest games we’ve ever seen. In about the least surprising thing ever, it finished pretty damn high. LeBron’s block, Kyrie’s three, Kevin Love’s D, the Warriors blown lead, the history on the line—it all made for about the most dramatic do-or-die game we had ever seen considering the city of Cleveland hadn’t experienced a championship in over five decades and was facing a squad looking to immortalize itself as the best ever.

Aroldis Chapman Celebration Game 7 World Series 2016

Wednesday's game wasn’t quite as dramatic in terms of what was on the line, but it was close considering history was going to be made one way or the other. The Indians and the Cubs showed baseball fans and casual spectators alike to what makes baseball’s postseason unique. We got to live and die on every pitch. We got to strategize and roast the awful managerial decisions. We got to experience the absurd, the improbable, the jubilation of a most unexpected comeback, and the satisfaction of actually seeing the last great curse in major sports come to an end. 

cubspole

Chances are even if you didn’t have a dog in the fight, your heart was racing just a little when Rajai Davis took Aroldis Chapman deep in the eighth. Then again in the 10th when Ben Zobrist lined a double down the left field line to give the Cubs a lead. And then again in the bottom of the inning when the Indians brought the winning run to the plate against a suspect Cubs bullpen that Maddon loathed to trust—and ultimately almost cost him.

It wasn’t the best played Game 7 in the history of Game 7s, but it lived up to the hype, if not exceeding it, just like what we blessedly witnessed in June. As a sports fan, what more could you ask for, especially if you’re the most casual of baseball fans who could name maybe one or two guys on the field last night and couldn’t pick Indians manager Terry Francona out of a lineup full of washed up, lip-packing former ball players?

Sports fans got lucky last night. Just like we got lucky June 19. If you watched—how are you going to forget that? You didn’t have to be in the ballpark to feel the emotional swings from each side, from each fan base. Baseball’s beautiful like that come October (and into early November), and for a change it went toe-to-toe with the best the NBA could offer. Not that they’re really competing when it comes to some mythical measure of drama, but it’s worth noting. And it’s most especially worth appreciating because last night was epic. 

Latest in Sports