It’s not a dream nor a fantasy. It’s reality and it’s over. The Chicago Cubs have won the World Series.

On November 2, in Game 7 of the World Series, the Cubs ended a championship drought that lasted 108 years, the longest championship drought in all four of the major North American professional sports leagues.

Two days later, the city of Chicago celebrated by dyeing the Chicago River Cubbie Blue and throwing a victory parade and rally. It was attended by a staggering five million people, the largest human gathering in American history and the seventh-largest in the world. CTA and Metra trains were filled to capacity and both agencies are sure that it was the busiest day in their history. Fans started arriving at Grant Park, the location of the rally, as early as 3 am, seven hours before the parade even began.

So how did the Cubs and five million of their fans get to this point?

The Cubs advanced to the World Series for the first time in 71 years and went up against the Cleveland Indians. In a tough series, the Indians took a 3-1 series lead over the Cubs, able to clinch the championship with one more win, but the Cubs rallied to force Game 7.

“I was expecting the Cubs to triumph because I could tell that they had the spirit since the beginning of the series,” said LTHS senior student Jaylinn Herrera, speaking about her expectations before the big game.

The Cubs had their work cut out for them in Game 7 as they were facing Corey Kluber on the mound. Kluber had faced the Cubs twice already in the series and the Indians won both games, but this time, the Cubs and Indians engaged each other in an evenly-skilled game. Among the memorable moments for the Cubs were home runs by Dexter Fowler, Javier Baez, and David Ross. Herrera, along with Seniors Izzy Piazza and Patrick Naughton, felt very confident when these events occurred.

But that confidence turned to nervousness when, in the eighth inning, Cleveland, with Aroldis Chapman on the mound and the score being 6-3, tied the game with a three-run inning. Rajai Davis scored two of those on a home-run to left field that left Cubs fans in shock. After the Cubs failed to score in the top of the ninth inning, all of the interviewees were scared that Cleveland would win with a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth, but Chapman pitched his and the Cubs’ way to extra innings. Before the tenth inning could occur, however, the umpires halted play for seventeen minutes due to a small rain shower.

After the rain delay, the Cubs’ offense exploded in the top of the tenth inning, scoring two runs off Cleveland pitcher Bryan Shaw, after he intentionally walked Anthony Rizzo and Addison Russell. Ben Zobrist and Miguel Montero singled in Albert Almora Jr. and Rizzo respectively.

“I was very excited when we went to the bottom of the tenth,” said LTHS sophomore student Beatriz Martinez. “I had a lot of faith that they were going to win.”

And win they did. In the bottom of the tenth, Carl Edwards Jr. got two outs, but walked Brandon Guyer and gave up a single to Rajai Davis, which scored Guyer. Joe Maddon put in Mike Montgomery to face Michael Martinez. Martinez hit a weak grounder to Kris Bryant, who threw it to Rizzo at first base to clinch the Cubs’ first World Series title in 108 years.

“I was so happy when we won,” said Naughton and Piazza. “I felt the butterflies in my stomach during the game, but I was so happy after it was over,” Piazza explained. Martinez said that she cried after the Cubs won.

In the aftermath of the historic catch, Rizzo immediately put the ball in his pocket to keep the now-historic artifact safe. As the Cubs ran onto the field to celebrate, fans in Wrigleyville, watching the game in bars or on their phones, exploded into cheers. Almost simultaneously, the Wrigley Field marquee, which depicted the score and inning of the game, changed to “CUBS WIN!” and a short time later, “WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS,” confirming that the Cubs had won. In Cleveland, the Cubs went into the locker room, accepted the Commissioner’s Trophy, and popped the champagne. After a few hours of celebrating, the team flew home and arrived at Wrigley Field at about 6 A.M. the next morning.

The day after the win, Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and the city announced that the victory parade and rally would be held the next day, Friday, November 4. The city preferred to have the parade and rally on Monday, November 7, but the Cubs insisted that it be Friday for two reasons: many of the players, exhausted after the series comeback, wanted to leave town for a vacation and three major Cubs executives, including president Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer, would be in Arizona on Monday for the MLB’s general managers’ meeting. So the city was forced to go ahead with Friday.

School was still in session for the majority of Chicago-area schools, Lockport included; however, an overwhelming amount of students took the day off to witness the event, Naughton and Piazza included. LTHS student Erik Pintoy, who did not skip school, said that he wasn’t sure how many students were in school, but his Calculus and AP Literature classes were both missing at least six people.

The parade ran from Wrigley Field to Grant Park, where a rally was held at Hutchinson Field. Pat Hughes, the Cubs’ primary radio broadcaster, acted as MC. Even he referenced the massive amount of high school students there, asking “Did anyone go to school today?” Every student there responded with a resounding no. Video montages were played and speeches were made by Tom Ricketts, Joe Maddon, Theo Epstein, and some of the players. Memorable ones included Jon Lester, who pulled a Corey Crawford by swearing during his speech, the now-retired David Ross taking a massive selfie with the team and the crowd, and Anthony Rizzo, who tearfully introduced Ross and then handed over the game-winning ball, still in his possession and now valued at $3 million, to Tom Ricketts.

Country singer and Cubs fan Brett Eldredge then lead the team and the crowd in a guitar rendition of “Go Cubs Go.” One final video montage, with fireworks and confetti, ended the rally.

After the rally, the Cubs continued celebrating by going to Disney World, appearing on Saturday Night Live, and going to the Blackhawks game on November 6.

Naughton summed the rally up in one quote:
“I usually don’t skip school, but it was totally worth it.”