Rozner: Can Cubs finish the comeback?
CLEVELAND - One week ago at Quicken Loans Arena, and just a few hundred feet from the left-field foul pole where flags floated hard toward center Tuesday night at a balmy Progressive Field, the Cavaliers celebrated an NBA title ring ceremony in which they came back from down 3-1 to win it all.
No team had ever come back from a 3-1 NBA Finals deficit and no team had won Game 7 on the road since 1978.
But the Cavs did what seemed impossible, becoming the first pro sports team since the Kansas City Royals in 1985 to win a championship series after trailing 3 games to 1.
It ended decades of sports misery in Cleveland.
And now a cutoff man's throw from where the Cavs got their hardware, the Cubs are threatening to turn history on its ear and heap more despair on an Indians franchise that might not understand the Cubs' futility but can claim substantial pain of its own after waiting since 1948.
The Cubs have come back from down 3-1 to tie the World Series, and now you get the best two words in sports: Game Seven.
“What better way to do it than to come back from down 3-1?” said Cubs reliever Mike Montgomery. “This team has a flair for the dramatic. The fan base deserves it, it's good for baseball, and it's going to Game 7 of the World Series.”
Behind Jake Arrieta, Aroldis Chapman and a return to the longball, the Cubs captured Game 6 here Tuesday night, 9-3, and have forced a monumental Game 7, as big a sporting event as Chicago has ever known, and that's saying something given a decade of titles from Michael Jordan - the greatest who ever lived - and the 1985 Bears - the greatest football team of all time.
The Cubs are trying to become the first baseball team since the Royals 31 years ago to come back from down 3-1 to win the trophy, and the first since the Pirates in 1979 - who also completed the comeback from down 3-1 - to win Games 6 and 7 on the road in the World Series.
“It's gonna be tough to remember that it's just a game,” Montgomery said, “but that's what I tried to do today.
“That's the biggest battle, going one pitch at a time. Make good pitches and you get them out. Make bad pitches and they hit it. Simplify it like that and you're fine.”
Indians starter Josh Tomlin got the first two outs Tuesday on 4 pitches and had not thrown a ball when he had Kris Bryant down 0-2 in the first, but he hung a breaking ball and Bryant hit it to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for his second homer in as many games.
“In the bullpen,” Montgomery said, “it gave us all a lift when (Bryant) got us started.”
But the Cubs did not stop swinging the bats. Anthony Rizzo and Ben Zobrist collected singles and when Addison Russell lifted a soft fly the other way, right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall and center fielder Tyler Naquin both backed off and the ball dropped, a huge break for the visitors.
It's the kind that has not gone their way in decades past.
Rizzo scored and Zobrist came all the way around, running over catcher Roberto Perez for the third run of the first inning.
The Cubs loaded the bases in the third and that was it for Tomlin. In came Dan Otero, who left an 0-2 pitch up for Russell and he blasted it to the deepest part of the park for a 434-foot grand slam, giving the Cubs a commanding 7-0 lead.
It was the first Cubs grand slam in World Series history and the first in any World Series since Paul Konerko in Game 2 in 2005, and Russell's 6 RBI tied a Series single-game record.
Arrieta got the Cubs into the sixth and Montgomery got the final out of the inning on one pitch, but with two on and two outs in the seventh, Joe Maddon went to Chapman again.
In a span of a couple of days, Maddon has gone from managing like it was June to managing like it's the seventh game of the World Series, which will take place here Wednesday night.
Chapman got four outs on 20 pitches and when Rizzo blasted a 2-run shot in the ninth to put the game away, Maddon was able to take Chapman out in the bottom of the ninth and save him for Game 7, when every pitcher - including Arrieta - will be available.
“We knew we just needed to get it to tomorrow any way possible,” Montgomery said. “We have a group of guys who won't let the moment get to us.
“As players, we're ready. We're excited. We're looking forward to it. Game 7 of the World Series. It's what you dream about as a kid.”
LeBron James has been a fixture at Indians games throughout the postseason, and he knows too well a 3-1 lead is a guarantee of nothing.
The Indians have given it up and now the World Series is tied at 3-3.
One game left. Winner take all. Fasten your seat belts.
Wow.
Hear Barry Rozner on WSCR 670-AM and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter.