Cubs Will Beat Indians and End World Series Drought

It has all come down to October for the 2016 event-filled baseball season.

The field of 30 teams fighting to call themselves champions has now come down to two; in the World Series between feature the American League champions the Cleveland Indians and the National League champions the Chicago Cubs.

The Kansas City Royals, last season’s champions, failed to make the playoffs this season, ensuring that a new champion will be crowned. The question left is who it will be.

This World Series has been a long time coming for both franchises, with both teams suffering from the longest title droughts in their respective leagues. The Indians’ last world title win came in 1948 and their last series appearance was in 1997. The Cubs’ last world title came in 1908 and their last series appearance was in 1945.

This series could be a low scoring affair due to fierce starting pitchers on both squads. The Cubs have Kyle Hendricks, Jon Lester, John Lackey and Jake Arrieta who have shut down teams early, making an easier task for their pitching unit and defense to finish the deal. The Indians have a more solid pitching unit in Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, Josh Tomlin and Mike Clevinger, who pitched full games destroying opposing batters.

The Indians allowed only eight runs in their championship series against the Toronto Blue Jays, while the Cubs allowed 16 runs in their series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, twice as many as Cleveland.

The heart to any baseball team is the ability to score runs with the swing of a bat. The Indians’ batters Brandon Guyer, Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez and Coco Crisp can squeak in runs at hard to hit areas of the field like down the foul line while sending the ball deep for a home run.

Batting is what got Chicago this far in the postseason; smashing the ball in droves with Miguel Montero, Anthony  Rizzo, Ben Zobrist and Dexter Fowler.

Once the Cubs start hitting they are hard to stop. The team scored 30 runs in the NLCS to Cleveland’s 12 runs.

The one thing that can doom the Indians heading into the series is time.

Cleveland was playing like the hottest team in baseball heading into the postseason, only losing one game with that loss coming against the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS before clinching the series in five games.

Now they have had to wait a week to see who will face them in the World Series, possibly destroying any momentum in the process.

This has affected multiple teams’ performances in the past, like the Detroit Tigers in 2012, the Colorado Rockies in 2007 and Atlanta Braves in 1999.

All of these teams would lose their World Series matchups.

This will be a close series that will go the distance, but the Cubs are looking like the stronger team.

They have a chance of shutting out the Indians hitting while sticking to their powerful offense.

Cubs win the World Series 4-3 in seven games.