CLEVELAND — The Cubs haven’t won the World Series since 1908, so if they’re going to do it now, why not do it in dramatic fashion? Cleveland hasn’t won it all since 1948, so what’s one more day?
Someone is going to be very happy Wednesday night, and someone is going to be crushed. Or we’ll all be crushed by a meteor, which still feels like a very distinct possibility as the World Series between two of baseball history’s biggest losers heads to a decisive Game 7.
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It’s heading there because, on Tuesday night, the Cubs pounded out 13 hits, including a homer by Kris Bryant to get things going, a grand slam by Addison Russell to break things open and a two-run shot by Anthony Rizzo as an exclamation point. Chicago’s 9-3 win in Game 6 gives the Cubs a chance to become the first team since the 1985 Royals to surmount a 3-1 deficit and win the World Series.
Kyle Hendricks and Corey Kluber will be the pitchers for Wednesday’s winner-take-all contest, starting at 8:08 p.m. Eastern. That’s 7:08 Central, which is 19:08 in military time, for whatever that is worth.
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Here are the player ratings for Game 6 of the World Series.
CHICAGO
Dexter Fowler – 3: Struck out leading off the game. Flied out to end the top of the second. Struck out in the fourth. Flied out to end the top of the sixth. Grounded out to lead off the ninth.
Kyle Schwarber – 6: Back in the lineup as the DH, grounded out into the shift in his first at-bat. Walked to lead off the third inning. Flied out to end the top of the fourth. Led off the seventh with a single. Flied out to deep center in his next at-bat.
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Kris Bryant – 9: Absolutely destroyed an 0-2 curveball from Tomlin for a 433-foot home run to give Chicago an early lead. Popped up in his next at-bat. Singled off a diving Francisco Lindor to lead off the fifth inning. Singled again in the seventh, and once more in the ninth for the first four-hit game in the World Series since Pablo Sandoval did it in 2012.
Anthony Rizzo – 8: Singled to right field after Bryant’s homer in the first. Scored on Addison Russell’s double. Singled again in the third, a grounder into center field that advanced Schwarber to second. Popped up his next time up. Flied out in the seventh. Homered in the ninth.
Ben Zobrist – 7: Singled to keep the first inning rally going and move Rizzo up to third base. Legally ran over Roberto Perez at the plate, scoring Chicago’s third run as he made sure the catcher couldn’t catch Jason Kipnis’ throw home. Singled to load the bases with one out in the third. Struck out in the fifth. Lined out his next time up. Walked in the ninth.
Addison Russell – 8: Doubled home two runs on an absolute gift from Lonnie Chisenhall and Tyler Naquin as the outfielders declined to make the catch; it was particularly Naquin’s fault, as he appeared to call off Chisenhall in right-center field before letting it drop. Advanced to third on an error charged to Jason Kipnis when Roberto Perez got hammered at the plate by Zobrist and couldn’t handle the relay throw home. Hit a grand slam in the third inning, the first the Cubs have ever had in the World Series. Struck out to end the top of the fifth. Grounded into a force play to end the top of the seventh, and again in the ninth.
Willson Contreras – 3: Flied out to end the top of the first. Grounded out his next time up. Committed a passed ball in the fourth to move Cleveland runners to second and third, though Jake Arrieta escaped further trouble. Led off the sixth inning with a strikeout.
Jason Heyward – 5: Flied out leading off the second inning. Popped up to end the top of the third. Helped stem Cleveland’s rally in the fourth inning with a diving catch. Flied out in the sixth.
Javier Baez – 5: Grounded out on a close play his first time up, but the Cubs did not challenge. Struck out leading off the fourth inning. Singled his next time up.
Jake Arrieta – 7: After taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning of Game 2, took a bid into the fourth this time around. By the time he gave up a double to Jason Kipnis leading off that frame, it was already a seven-run game. Wound up giving up two runs over 5 2/3 innings, throwing 102 pitches.
Mike Montgomery – 6: Got pinch hitter Brandon Guyer, a lefty-killer, to bounce into a forceout, ending the sixth inning. Gave up a hit and a walk in the seventh before leaving with two outs.
Aroldis Chapman – 7: Called on to get the final out of the seventh, and just barely did, as replay showed he got his foot to first base before Francisco Lindor did, and an initial safe call was reversed. Wound up getting three more outs, even though it was a blowout. Left after a leadoff walk in the ninth inning and a total of 20 pitches, two days after he threw 42 for the last eight outs of Game 6. Charged with a run when his walk came around to score.
Pedro Strop – 4: Allowed his inherited runner to score, got two outs, gave up a walk, left the game to allow more fans to beat the traffic.
Travis Wood – 6: Got the final out.
CLEVELAND
Carlos Santana – 4: Struck out to start the bottom of the first. Grounded out to end the third inning. Popped up in his next at-bat. Flied out in the seventh. Walked in the ninth.
Jason Kipnis – 8: Charged with an error for his throw getting away from Roberto Perez, allowing Addison Russell to take third base. That error is not reflected in this rating because Kipnis’ throw was the right play to make, and on target. It’s just that, under baseball scoring rules, there must be accounting for the base advance. Grounded out in his first at-bat. Made a very nice play to retire Baez in the second inning. Doubled leading off the bottom of the fourth for Cleveland’s first hit. Homered in the fifth. Singled to give Cleveland two runners on with two out in the seventh. Popped up to end the game.
Francisco Lindor – 4: Drew a walk his first time up. Struck out his next time, with a runner on second. Grounded out to end the fifth. Appeared to win a foot race with Aroldis Chapman for an infield single, but was ruled out on replay to end the seventh inning.
Mike Napoli – 5: Entering the game 3 for 15 with five strikeouts in the series, went down swinging to end the first. Singled home Kipnis in the fourth to get Cleveland on the board. Struck out leading off the bottom of the sixth. Struck out leading off the bottom of the eighth. (That would be eight strikeouts in 19 at-bats in the World Series, but he did get the RBI.)
Jose Ramirez – 6: Struck out leading off the bottom of the second. Robbed by Jason Heyward on a liner his next time up. Made a nice running catch in foul territory, with a snow cone, to retire Rizzo in the fifth. Flied to left in the sixth. Singled his next time up.
Lonnie Chisenhall – 4: Lousy defensive series in right field continued with the misplay that turned into two runs in the first inning on Addison Russell’s cheap double, though it wasn’t entirely his fault — it was a miscommunication with Tyler Naquin. Struck out in his first at-bat. Hit by a pitch in the fourth inning. Walked his next time up. Left for a pinch hitter in the eighth.
Coco Crisp – 5: Grounded out to end the second inning. Walked in the fourth to load the bases. Left for a pinch hitter in the sixth.
Tyler Naquin – 2: Got in position to make the catch on Russell’s fly ball, then didn’t catch it. Nearly took out Chisenhall with a slide as the right fielder caught Bryant’s fly in the third. Struck out looking to lead off the bottom of the third. Struck out with the bases loaded to end the fourth. Left for a pinch hitter in the seventh.
Roberto Perez –5: Lined out in his first at-bat. Struck out to start the bottom of the fifth. Walked in the seventh. Drove in a run with a single in the ninth, but was thrown out when he made the stupefying decision to try to stretch to a double.
Brandon Guyer – 4: Pinch-hit for Coco Crisp and grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the sixth.
Rajai Davis – 4: Lined out to center field leading off the bottom of the seventh as a pinch hitter for Naquin. Flied out to the warning track in left field in the ninth.
Yan Gomes – 3: Pinch-hit for Chisenhall with a runner on first and one out in the eighth, and grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Michael Martinez – 5: Played right field in the ninth inning.
Josh Tomlin – 2: Should have been out of the first inning with one run allowed, but wound up giving up three thanks to the brutal misplay by his outfielders. Settled down to retire the next four hitters he faced, but ran into trouble the second time through the Cubs order, with a walk and two singles loading the bases with one out and driving him from the game. So, three of the six runs he was charged with came when he was out of the game, not that he didn’t earn them — unlike the two on Russell’s double.
Dan Otero – 2: Faced three batters. Gave up a grand slam to one of them.
Danny Salazar – 7: Four strikeouts in two scoreless innings only furthered the argument that Salazar should have taken over for the fourth inning of Game 5.
Jeff Manship – 6: Retired two of the three batters he faced, lifted after Javier Baez’s single in the sixth.
Zach McAllister – 6: Came in to retire Dexter Fowler to end the top of the sixth inning. Worked around a couple of singles for a scoreless seventh.
Mike Clevinger – 3: Pitched a scoreless eighth. Gave up two tack-on runs in the ninth on Rizzo’s homer.