Kyodo News via Getty Images(CHICAGO) — On Sunday night, long-suffering Cleveland baseball fans may witness something they haven’t seen in 68 years: the Indians taking home a World Series title.
The Cleveland Indians were widely considered to be the underdogs at the start of the series pitting them against the Chicago Cubs, the only baseball team to have gone longer than the Indians without a world championship, 108 years.
But the Indians handed the Cubs their second-consecutive home loss Saturday night thanks to another dominant pitching performance from ace Corey Kluber and a phenomenal game from second baseman and fan favorite Jason Kipnis, who crushed a line drive three-run homer to stretch his team’s lead to 7-1.
The team ultimately held on to win by 7-2 and now leads the seven-game series 3-1.
The Indians’ lead puts tremendous pressure on them to try to clinch the championship Sunday night in front of an anxious crowd of Cubs fans at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
The rise of the 2016 Indians had been unexpected by many analysts, given the injuries suffered by some of the team’s players, such as outfielder Michael Brantley and pitcher Carlos Carrasco.
But the Cleveland team has managed to get the job done with timely hitting plus excellent pitching by Kluber as well as by relievers Bryan Shaw, Cody Allen, and Andrew Miller, who has set the postseason record for strikeouts by a reliever.
Another Cleveland player, 22-year-old former first-round draft pick Francisco Lindor, once considered to be a defense-first prospect, has emerged as an offensive star in the postseason at shortstop, with a robust .370 batting average.
Cleveland fans are relishing the potentially history-making victory for their ballclub, and have packed their home stadium of Progressive Field not only for home games, but to watch the team play on the road on the stadium’s jumbotron screen.
One Indians’ devotee told ABC affiliate WEWS-TV in Cleveland that fans there want to see the team win the championship, and whether it happened in Chicago or at home was immaterial.
“As long as they win, that’s what really matters,” Robert Oriti said. “Obviously, we would love for them to win here, but winning the series is winning the series either way.”
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