History will be on one team’s side as the combatants have reached a seventh game in the 2016 World Series.
With victories in the last two contests over the Cleveland Indians, the Chicago Cubs have set the stage for a magical moment for at least one of the two long-suffering franchises.
There have been 10 Fall Classics reach a seventh game after a team fell behind 3-1 in the series.
The first three times, the series would go to eight games in 1903, 1912 and 1919. The 1903 and 1919 were best of nine, so they do not count in this situation.
In 1912, the second game ended in a 6-6 tie after 11 innings as it was called because of darkness, which meant that an extra game would eventually need to be played.
Boston was up 3-1 in the series before the Red Sox dropped two games to the New York Giants. The Red Sox were able to bounce back posting a 3-2 win to take the series.
The final game was the first walk-off victory to decide a series. Larry Gardner hit the series-winning sacrifice fly for the Red Sox with the bases loaded in the 10th inning against National Baseball Hall of Fame member Christy Mathewson.
Cleveland fans probably would favor a similar ending, especially since Gardner was also a member of the 1920 world champion Indians.
However from a different perspective, with the 1912 series included, the team down 3-1 rallied to win three straight to finish as champions five of the eight times it’s happened perhaps giving the Cubs an advantage.
With the three wins in a row scenario, the Pittsburgh Pirates accomplished the feat in 1925 against the Washington Senators and again in 1979 against the Baltimore Orioles.
In 1958, the New York Yankees became the first team to turn the trick on the road as they won the final three games against the Milwaukee Brewers with the last two at County Stadium.
The 1968 Detroit Tigers matched that achievement by beating the St. Louis Cardinals on the road in the final two games to claim that title.
The most-recent team to win a series after being down and nearly out was the Kansas City Royals, which won the last three games against the Cardinals in 1985.
The Other Side
In addition to the 1912 series, the Indians are hoping for the similar result that also occurred in 1967 and 1972.
The Cardinals were ahead 3-1 when the Red Sox won game five in St. Louis that forced the teams to go back to Boston. The Red Sox took the sixth game, but the Cardinals behind the right arm and bat of Bob Gibson won the seventh affair 7-2. It was the third win for Gibson in the series as he blasted a homer to help his cause.
The Oakland A’s had a chance to win the 1972 series at home against the Cincinnati Reds. The A’s lost in the fifth game and then dropped the sixth in Cincinnati. Series Most Valuable Player Gene Tenace knocked in two runs and scored the game-winner in a 3-2 Oakland victory.
As baseball fans prepare for the deciding game, the only certainty appears to be that history will be made and one team will end an extremely long drought.