Tragedy in Cleveland: Indians Lose Game 7 of World Series to Chicago Cubs

CLEVELAND, OH - It's a nightmare ending to a dream run. The Tribe were the perennial underdog, the team that no one thought would win a game in the playoffs, and they scratched and clawed their way to the World Series. No one thought they could win the Fall Classic against a Chicago Cubs team that had the best record in baseball. Everyone thought the team couldn't overcome an early 5-1 deficit in Game 7. And then Rajai Davis tied the game 6-6 in the eighth with a 3-run homerun. It looked like the team would prove the doubters wrong one last time.

Instead, the team lost 8-7 in extra innings.

After four games, Cleveland looked bound for its second title in five months. The Tribe were leading 3-1. Tonight, they lost their third straight game in front of their hometown fans. The Cleveland Indians now own the longest title drought in Major League Baseball, with fans waiting 68 years for a championship. Few fans remember the 1948 championship team. Only one member of that squad is still living.

The game itself was amazing. Dexter Fowler crushed a one run homerun on the fourth pitch of the game. It set the tone for the evening and kept alive the Cubs' rush of offense from Game 6. To his credit, Kluber settled down for a couple of innings before surrendering more runs. His season ended with a stat line of 4 innings pitched, six hits given up and four runs earned. It's an inappropriate send off for a man that played a massive role in getting the team to and briefly seizing control of the World Series.

The Cubs ran out to a 5-1 lead and it looked like everything was sewn up and the billy goats put to bed. Then the Tribe came roaring back in the eighth behind Davis and tied the whole thing up. The crowd erupted and it felt like momentum had shifted squarely to Cleveland.

Then, the rain.

It delayed the game for only 14 minutes, but it was enough to sputter reliever Brian Shaw who came out and gave up two runs in the top of the tenth inning. The Cubs scoring two runs proved decisive. Davis drove in another run (what a game for him) in the bottom of the tenth to halve the deficit. But the next batter up couldn't bring him home.

That was the end for the Tribe.

The Doldrums Once Again

The crushing circumstances of this defeat present an anguish all too familiar to Clevelanders. Many writers and pundits will bring up the specter of Jose Mesa, the curious decision to have Jim Thome, a man many fans still loathe, throw out the first pitch, and the inability of the area's sports teams to win titles without LeBron James taking the field. More will bring up the summer's most common refrain on Lake Erie, "The Warriors blew a 3-1 lead" and they will call it karma.

For locals it will be something else; a return to the mean, maybe. A miserable family member once again taking up residence in our collective house. There was certainly a familiarity to the crush of this defeat. Even as the 8:08 p.m. opening pitch grew closer, the tone of Tribe fans began to shift. There was something menacing in the air. Fans could tell the momentum of the series had shifted toward Chicago. Now, the anxious, terrifying prognosticating had found its roost.

According to ticketIQ, Tribe fans began selling off their tickets en masse prior to the game. There were more than 3,500 tickets available Nov. 2 ranging between $900 and $20,000 in price.

"As context for how unusual this is, for the 2014 World Series between Royals and Giants, we saw supply drop 35 percent between game 6 and day-of noon," said Jesse Lawrence, CEO of ticketIQ. "This year, over that same period, it's down 5 percent."

To those listening on the radio, there were times it sounded like a Cubs home game. Lawrence said about 40 percent of his app's traffic came from Chicago. Under 20 percent came from Clevelanders. To him, that spelled out that Clevelanders were actively trying to sell their tickets in the run-up to the game.

So in a way, people saw this coming.

We may name this one The Collapse and add it to the mantle of Shakespearean tragedies that lives in every Clevelander's heart. It will find its place between The Shot and The Drive and The Blown Save.

The uniqueness of this pain is that it may feel new to Clevelanders now, unexpected after the jubilation of the Cavaliers' title run. Maybe it will earn a special spot on the mantle of tragedies. Maybe time will sand it down to just another root in Cleveland's twisted, tortured sports tree. It's too early to say. It is time to say that fans wanted this game and wanted it badly. Even the four-legged members of the community got into supporting the baseball team.

There is hope to be found in the defeat. The Kansas City Royals lost a heartbreaking Game 7, at their home stadium, before bouncing back and winning the Fall Classic the next year. The Tribe's core certainly won't be going anywhere, the team will have a chance to get back to this stage.

As much as it hurts to once again say, "There's always next year."

Photos from Rick Uldricks, Patch