Imrem: World Series at Wrigley Field still seems unreal

The scene down on the field was a little disorienting Friday night.

The ballpark was supposed to be Wrigley Field but this couldn't be Wrigley Field.

Painted in foul territory down the first- and third-base lines was “World Series.”

Come on, this place didn't look like Yankee Stadium and the surroundings didn't look like St. Louis.

But it couldn't be Wrigley Field either even though ivy was growing on the outfield walls, a huge manual scoreboard towered over the center-field bleachers and a brick wall circled the field.

Just as they did in 1945.

My goodness … this was Wrigley Field!

Even with the video boards, this still is the same ballpark. Even with the bleachers rising higher, it is. Even with a more corporate feel, it is.

The Cubs really played the Indians in the first World Series game in Wrigley Field since 1945.

A festive mood enveloped the game with Cub fans celebrating inside and outside the ballpark … at least until the final out.

With the wind blowing out, the Indians won an improbable 1-0 pitchers' duel for a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

“I don't think it was our guys being overwhelmed by the situation at all,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.

The night wasn't about winning or losing anyway. It was about a World Series game finally being played in Wrigley Field.

If you didn't realize something special was happening, it would have hit you when the game's first ball thrown by Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks was taken out of play as a keepsake.

Yes, the night was historic in a historic ballpark.

Wrigley Field's highlights always seemed destined for eternity to be Opening Day, a periodic postseason appearance and an occasional All-Star Game.

The idea of a World Series had become unrealistic. A World Series game in Wrigley Field? Yeah, and the Super Bowl is scheduled for Arlington Park.

There it was, though, and on this night it was enough to merely play a World Series game in this ballpark for the first time in 71 years.

Raucous Cubs fans sounded like they were letting out decades of emotions after the wait ended. As in last week's NLCS clincher, a baseball game was scheduled and a hockey crowd showed up.

Chants like “Let's go Cubs!” and “Javy! Javy!” for Javier Baez were complemented by roars during every two-strike pitch to an Indians batter.

Club chairman Tom Ricketts intends to keep the Cubs in Wrigleyville forever and in Game 3 he looked like a genius.

This event wouldn't have felt right anywhere else: It was made for Wrigley Field after all these years.

As much as modern conveniences are preferable in ballparks these days, it still is neat for history to be repeated every 71 years in an antique like Wrigley Field.

Maddon noted that Wrigley Field had no light towers in 1945 and maybe not so widespread an entertainment district around the park.

But the additions don't subtract from anything 71 years later.

“The whole moment, I think, is spectacular, is the best way I could describe it,” Maddon said of the World Series' return to Wrigley Field.

He appreciates all special baseball moments like this.

“It's different in all the best ways,” he said, “and it should be absolutely a blast here tonight.”

A blast it was with more, to come Saturday and Sunday.

mimrem@dailyherald.com