at 6:18 PM by Pierce Larkin

The Weather Helped Break the Cubs Curse

h/t @MLB Twitter Account
h/t @MLB Twitter Account

It was Game 7. The very phrase “Game 7” is one of the most emotional phrases in all of sports. It evokes nerves, fear, excitement, and expectation. Game 7 of the World Series was the unbelievable ending to an unbelievable series, and was likely the best Sports Game I have ever watched in my life. The Cubs came back from being down 3-1 in the series, and they won. Yes, as you well know now, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series.

It is one of the craziest things I have ever seen as a sports fan. I’m not a Cubs fan, and it was still cool. But the win doesn’t tell the whole story. The reason the Cubs won can be completely tied back to one meteorological moment in a historic Game 7.

It is the Bottom of the 8th inning. Chicago is up 6-3, and the game looks to be in hand. Aroldis Chapman is in for the Cubs, and they are on their way to their first World Series title in 108 years! Until a double sends a run home to make it 6-4 Cubs. Then this happened:

It was one of the wildest moments I had ever seen in sports. The HR by Rajai Davis in the bottom of the 8th was incredible, shocking and just wild. It tied up what seemed to be a game in hand for the Cubs. With one swing of the bat, that game was taken out of the Cub’s hands, and Cleveland seemed to have it. Just look at the Win Expectancy chart from FanGraphs.

Look at how quickly Cleveland's win percentage increased in the bottom of the 8th. h/t fangraphs.com
Look at how quickly Cleveland’s win percentage increased in the bottom of the 8th. h/t fangraphs.com

Before the game went into Extras, the Win Expectancy for Cleveland jumped up to 63% from 4% at one point in the 8th inning. I know that momentum isn’t a quantifiable thing, but momentum plays a role in every sports game. The momentum was all on Cleveland’s side heading into the bottom of the 9th inning. Chicago was on its heels, but got the game into a 10th inning. And then…

Rain began to fall, and a rain delay was called. This rain delay didn’t last more than 20 minutes, but may have been one of the most important delays in MLB history. With all of the momentum and crowd energy favoring Cleveland, that was quickly taken away with the delay.

The tarp for the Game 7 rain delay. h/t sportingnews.com
The tarp for the Game 7 rain delay. h/t sportingnews.com

This even sparked a mental change in the Cubs clubhouse. After a stunning bottom of the 8th, the young Cubs team was not in a position to rally. But then, during the rain delay, Jason Heyward called a team meeting in the dugout.

The team largely credited this to allowing them to settle down before the 10th inning kicked off. Anthony Rizzo even claimed that it was, “the best rain delay of all time”. After that rain delay, the Cubs scored 2 runs in the top of the inning and would go onto win the World Series. So, in the biggest moment in sports this year, the Weather played a significant role in the outcome. And that is pretty cool.