World Series Game 6: Chicago Cubs force Game 7 to decide which team ends title drought

Not since 1985 has a team rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win the World Series as the Chicago Cubs are attempting to do. Jamie Squire / Getty Images

Two teams with Major League Baseball’s longest title droughts have gone the distance in the 112th World Series, setting up the sport’s ultimate drama, a winner-take-all one game championship showdown on Wednesday.

The Chicago Cubs, whose title drought since 1908 is the longest in American sports history, rolled 9-3 on Tuesday over the host Cleveland Indians, who have not won the best-of-seven event since 1948, to pull level at 3-3 and set up the 37th decisive Game 7 in World Series history.

One set of long-suffering supporters will finally celebrate the end of epic misery while the other will endure yet another heartbreak and be left to wonder if their wait will ever be rewarded.

Cleveland pitcher Corey Kluber, who won the opener and then Game 4 on short rest, will take the mound for the third time in eight days in Game 7 against Chicago’s Kyle Hendricks in a battle of right-handers, neither of whom have ever pitched in a Game 7 before.

More from the World Series:

• Game 5: Cubs regain belief, Indians remain quietly confident

• Game 4: Indians on brink but Cubs will 'keep going until the end'

• Game 3: Cubs 'have to be ready' for Corey Kluber

• Game 2: 'Folks will be jacked up' as Cubs even series

• Game 1: Indians bring 'intensity' but Cubs 'have no concerns'

“This is the ultimate dream,” Hendricks said. “When you are out in your backyard as a kid, playing Little League at the field with your friends, this is the moment you dream about.”

Not since 1985 has a team rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win the World Series as the Cubs are attempting to do. And not since 1979 has a team done it by winning the last two on the road as the Cubs must to take the title.

Kluber’s short-rest Series double had not been accomplished since 1990. Now he could become only the 11th man to pitch three wins in the same seven-game World Series.

“Game 7 of the World Series, I don’t think you need any extra motivation,” Kluber said.

It’s the third Game 7 in six World Series matchups, with Madison Bumgarner pitching five shutout relief innings in 2014 to lift San Francisco over Kansas City and St Louis beating Texas in 2011 after coming within one strike of defeat.

Game 7 drama also has included Arizona scoring twice in the bottom of the ninth to beat the New York Yankees 3-2 in 2001, Florida’s Edgar Renteria driving in the winning run in the 11th inning in 1997 to beat Cleveland and Pittsburgh’s Bill Mazeroski blasting a walk-off home run to beat the Yankees in 1960.

“I’m just going to embrace the opportunity, approach it like any other game, simple thoughts, same old thing,” Hendricks said.

Cubs manager Joe Maddon likes how Hendricks stays cool under pressure.

“He’s able to control his emotions really well,” Maddon said. “He’s an artist. He can really make pitches.”

Hendricks marvels at Kluber’s stamina, both mental and physical.

“I don’t think there are too many guys that could do it, so obviously he is a special guy. It speaks volumes to him as a pitcher and what he can do,” Hendricks said.

“Kluber, you can just see it. The way he takes the mound, he’s always locked in. he has a very good mental approach from what you can see from the outside, keeping things simple, just trying to execute pitches.”

Kluber says he sacrifices little with the lost rest.

“I spend a little more time doing the different methods of recovery,” Kluber said. “But I still get in the same amount of work in between. It’s just a little bit more condensed. I haven’t found much of a difference yet.”

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