They spent the entire year as the favorites to win it all according to Las Vegas betting odds, and they maintained the best record in all of baseball for most of the season.
If that same person were to say they would be playing the Cleveland Indians, that person would be laughed out of the room.
The Indians were supposed to be a middle-of-the-road team coming into the year. With a strong division that contained the defending World Series champion Kansas City Royals and the perennially solid Detroit Tigers, no one predicted that they would even make the playoffs. But they got hot during the middle of the season, and it never wore off.
There are some very notable storylines and connections between the Cubs and Indians that make this series highly intriguing.
The Streaks: Most baseball fans know the Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908, by far the longest drought in MLB history, but what many people may not know is that the second-longest current World Series drought is owned by none other than the Cleveland Indians.
The Indians have not won a championship since 1948, which is impressive, but compared to the Cubs it is nothing. Before this year, the Cubs had not even made it to the World Series since 1945, three years before the Indians drought started.
At the end of this World Series, one of these two long streaks will be over.
The Youngsters: Both of these teams are built around young talent, with the Cubs centered around MVP candidate Kris Bryant and a medley of other budding talent. This includes one of this year’s postseason breakout players, infielder Javier Báez, who has an interesting connection to the center of the Indians’ roster.
Just five years ago, Báez faced off against current Clevland Indians All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor on a much smaller stage. The two Puerto Rican born infielders played against each other in their senior years of high school, in front of a large crowd of scouts and people itching to get a look at the two best shortstops entering the upcoming draft.
Lindor ended up being picked with the eighth overall pick, and Báez was selected right after him in the ninth slot. The two find themselves facing off once again.
The Bullpen: The Cubs and the Indians have two of the best bullpens in all of baseball, and they both have the same team to thank: the New York Yankees. Both the Indians and the Cubs made trades right at the deadline to acquire top tier relief pitchers from the Yankees.
The Indians got lights-out lefty Andrew Miller, who was the MVP of their ALCS win against the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Cubs traded for flamethrower Aroldis Chapman, who is still the hardest thrower in all of baseball.
These two deals have had a huge impact on both of these teams, and how these former teammates fare against each other will be a key storyline of this series.
Long Time, No See: Both teams made unexpected changes to their World Series rosters in order to bring back players we had previously thought were out for the year. The Indians added Danny Salazar, one of their great young starting pitchers who has not pitched in a game since Sept. 9 due to forearm tightness.
For Chicago, slugger Kyle Schwarber will be the designated hitter for all the games in Cleveland after being ahead of schedule on the path to recovery from a torn ACL in the second game of the year.
Both of these players could be huge X factors in the series and add further intrigue to an already fascinating championship matchup.
All in all, this has been set up to be a great series. One team will break one of the longest World Series droughts in MLB history, so make sure to stay tuned.
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