Now That The Cubs Have Won An Epic Game 7, Who Is The Most Tortured Franchise In Sports?

What a Game 7, and what an incredible night for the city of Chicago and sport of baseball. The Cubs displayed the most un-Cub-like behavior possible throughout the entire postseason, a swagger that always prevailed whenever this team looked down and out. It started with their incredible ninth inning rally in Game 4 of the Giants’ series, continued with their three straight wins to end the Dodgers’ series (after they got shutout in both Game 2 and 3), and ended with their most improbable achievement of all, the erasing of what looked to be an insurmountable three games-to-one deficit against Cleveland. Amazingly, the 108 year drought is finally over.

And what a devastating demise for the Indians. Blowing a three games-to-one lead is bad enough, but Cleveland made it even worse by doing just enough all game to keep the hope of victory alive. It all came together when Rajai Davis crushed that tying two run homer off the previously unhittable Aroldis Chapman in the eighth. At that point, I didn’t think there was any way the Cubbies were going to win, because we’d all seen this story from Chicago before, as the pressure of the “curse” and over a century of losing slowly crept in and crushed them.

But then Chapman came back out for the ninth, and despite  not having the gas to throw his 100+ mile an hour fastball, got through the inning unscathed. And after the rain delay, the Cubs bats woke up for the top of the tenth and knocked in two runs, giving them an 8-6 advantage heading to the bottom of the tenth. Carl Edwards Jr., who weighs like 120 pounds soaking wet and holding a brick, and Mike Montgomery were able to do just enough to close out the Indians, ending one of the best games I’ve ever watched and securing the most elusive championship any organization has ever pursued.

It’s the greatest win in any sport in my entire lifetime. How many times has a team, with one victory, won a championship, erased a seemingly insurmountable deficit, broken a 108 year curse, changed the narrative around their entire franchise, exorcised all their big game demons,  and invalidated a bottom-dwelling nickname like “The Lovable Losers”? The Red Sox title in ’04 was legendary, but their biggest victories in that playoff run came in the prior round, the ALCS against the Yankees, a series that saw Boston erase a 3-0 deficit. That World Series was never in doubt, as they jumped all over the hapless Cardinals on their way to a sweep. The 2016 Cubs? Not so much. No one was sure Chicago was going to be champions until the ball passed from Kris Bryant’s hand to Anthony Rizzo’s glove for the last out.

But back to Cleveland; have they now replaced the Cubs as the most tortured franchise in all of sports? I ran across this idea for the first time like seven years ago when it appeared in a column by Bill Simmons, and I've been fascinated by it ever since. Let’s consider the Indians for a moment:

1. They haven’t won a championship since 1948.

2. They’ve lost two heartbreaking Game 7’s in the World Series in the last 20 years. In 1997 the Indians headed into the bottom of ninth with a 3-2 lead against the Marlins, before they watched in horror as their closer Jose Mesa blew the save on a sacrifice fly by Craig Counsel that sent the game into extra innings. They eventually lost in the eleventh on Edgar Renteria’s series winning single. And then there was this year, an intensity ridden affair that saw the Indians hang around all night and trick their fans into thinking that they actually had a chance to win. Instead, they choked away a three-games-to-one advantage.

3. The 1954 Indians won an American League record-at-the-time 111 regular season games and were heavily favored to knock off the Giants in the World Series that year.  Instead, they got swept, thanks in large part to a couple of heroics from New York players in Game 1; Monte Irvin’s walk off home run and Willie Mays's sensational over the shoulder catch.

4. They missed the playoffs every year from 1955-1993, finishing with a losing record 29 times during that stretch.

5. Held a two-games-to-none lead over the Red Sox in the 1999 ALDS, before losing the next three games on their way to a playoff exit.

6. Held a three-games-to-one lead over the Red Sox in the 2007 ALCS, before doing the exact same thing they did eight years prior, as they lost the next three games and allowed Boston to advance to the World Series.

7. It’s brutally cold at least half the year in Cleveland. Don’t rule this out. Imagine losing an enormous playoff game in devastating fashion. You’re pissed, sad, and probably even slightly depressed. Then you wake up the next morning and are bombarded with three degree weather. Your car is covered in snow and ice, so you have stand outside and scrape off the windows while it’s colder than Jack Frost himself, and you’re thinking to yourself as you’re doing it, “My god, my team just absolutely destroyed me emotionally last night, and now I’ve got to deal with this for the next 5 months? Where’s my sleeping pills and Jack Daniels?” Fans in warm weather cities don’t have to deal with this. A Miami team might lose a heartbreaker, but then their fans wake up the next day and it’s 75 degrees outside, and a daily existence is still really comfortable. It’s not a joy to exist in a world where it’s in the single digits for 12 straight weeks. Warm weather has a way of soothing people and calming them down because it helps keep sports in their proper perspective by giving those who live in it more escapism options. My team just broke my heart? Oh well, it's 80 degrees, let's just go the beach today. You don’t get that in cold weather cities, because when it’s January in Cleveland, the only thing you have to look forward to for the next three months is swirling winds and bone chilling temperatures.

8. The Indians have done a great job fooling their fan base and getting their hopes up that they might actually be able to break through multiple different times with multiple different teams in multiple different generations. Being poorly run and sucking for 50 years isn’t fun at all, but no one has ever thought the Detroit Lions were going to break through and win a championship. They haven’t fielded a team that’s been capable of doing so. But getting the fan base’s hopes up hasn’t been a problem for Cleveland. It just happened in this series.

Sheesh. There’s not another baseball team with that much baggage. If I was fan of the Cleveland sports’ teams I’d have slit my wrists by now because they’ve all had their fair share of absolutely soul-crushing losses. Thank god the Cavaliers won the NBA title just six months ago because if they hadn’t, the suicide and alcoholic rate in Northeastern Ohio would’ve skyrocketed in the next 24 hours.

Speaking of the other Cleveland teams, I actually had to go to football to find teams that met the “No title in a long time, multiple devastating losses, and cold weather” standards. And no, it’s not the Browns, though their kidney punch losses are worth examining as well:

1. They haven’t won a championship since winning the NFL title in 1964.

2. The Drive. In the 1986 AFC Championship Game, Cleveland took a seven point lead with a little more than five minutes left to play, before John Elway led Denver on an improbable 98 yard that tied the score with 37 seconds left. The Broncos then kicked a field goal in overtime to advance to the Super Bowl.

3. The Fumble: In the 1987 AFC Championship Game, the very next year, Cleveland’s Earnest Byner was carrying the ball towards the goal line virtually uncontested for the game-tying touchdown before he inexplicably fumbled the ball, allowing Denver to recover while basically killing their chances in the process. The turnover turned out to be the deciding factor in the game.

4. Red Right 88. In the 1980 AFC Divisional Playoffs, the Browns were trailing the Raiders 14-12 with 49 seconds left but had the ball at Oakland’s 13 yard line, a position on the field that was well within field goal range. Rather than send out the kicker, Cleveland, who had had kicking troubles all day, decided to call the pass play, “Red Slot Right, Halfback Stay, 88”. Quarterback Brian Sipe was supposed to throw the ball away if his receivers weren’t open, but he instead mistakenly decided to force it in to his tight end Ozzie Newsome. His throw was instead intercepted by Oakland’s Mike Davis, killing their chance to try a field goal and ending their season.

5. The Move. Cleveland’s owner Art Modell became the most hated man in Northeast Ohio history when he inexplicably moved the team to Baltimore for the 1996 season. Cleveland was without a franchise until ’99, when the NFL granted them an expansion franchise.

6. The “new” Browns have been the worst run franchise in all of sports since they came back, as they’ve made one playoffs one time and have had 15 losing seasons.

7. Cold weather city.

8. Tricked the fans into thinking they had a shot a few times.

God might really hate Cleveland.

But how about another NFL team, the Minnesota Vikings? Let’s look at their history:

1. The only championship they “won” was the 1969 NFL title, but that got crapped on the following week when the lost the Super Bowl to the Kansas City Chiefs. So basically they’ve finished a year as the best team in football.

2. Lost four Super Bowls in eight years.

3. Were defeated in the 1975 NFC Divisional Playoffs by the Cowboys on a Hail Mary pass from Roger Staubach to Drew Pearson. It was controversial because many people felt that Pearson pushed off to get himself open.

4. In the 1987 NFC Championship Game, Minnesota lost 17-10 after running back Darrin Nelson dropped the tying touchdown in the end zone on fourth and goal.

5. In 1998, the Vikings went 15-1 in the regular season and were the prohibitive favorites to win the Super Bowl. In the NFC Championship Game against the Falcons, they took a 27-20 lead and had driven down the field to set up what would’ve been a game clinching field goal. They sent out their kicker, Gary Anderson, who hadn’t missed a field goal or extra point all year, to attempt a 38 yarder. It was a no brainer, right? Whoops…. Anderson shanked it, Atlanta got the ball back and went down the field, tying the game with 49 seconds left to send it to overtime. In the extra period, Minnesota couldn’t get anything going, and the Falcons got the ball back and scored on their first possession to win the game and end the Vikings’ season.

6. In the 2000 NFC Championship Game, Minnesota, a favorite on the road in New York, were blasted by the Giants 41-0 for their worst playoff defeat in franchise history.

7. During Week 17 of 2003 season, the lowly Arizona Cardinals completed a 28 yard prayer on the final play of the season to eliminate the Vikings from playoff contention.

8. In the 2009 NFC Championship Game at New Orleans ended with despair once again as the Vikings lost 31-28 in overtime. They nearly doubled the Saints’ yardage output, but were decimated by five turnovers, including a back-breaking Brett Favre interception near the end of regulation that occurred with the score tied and Minnesota on the verge of field goal range

9. In the 2015 NFC Wild Card Game, on a bitterly cold day in Minneapolis, the Vikings lost 10-9 to Seattle after their kicker Blair Walsh missed a chip shot 27 yard field goal with 26 seconds remaining.

10. They play in a cold weather city.

11. Tricked the fans into thinking they were going to win like a million times.

Geez, about every decade the Vikings find a way to absolutely guillotine their fan base. Cleveland gets a lot of press for having devastating losses and low fan base morale, and deservedly so, but no one’s had it worse than Viking fans the last five decades. They've got to be the "winner" right?

We used to be able to throw the Cubs at the top of “tortured franchise” list. Now they’re off it. Will any of these others join them? For their collective sanity of the city, I sure hope so.