Chicago Cubs Break 108-Year Drought, Win World Series

The 108-year wait ’til next year is finally over. The Chicago Cubs are World Series champions.

Ending more than a century of flops, futility and frustration, the Cubs won their first title since 1908, outlasting the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in 10 innings of a Game 7 thriller early Thursday.

That set off “a citywide celebration back home,” notes CBS Chicago.

“It happened. It happened. Chicago, it happened,” first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. “We did it. We’re world champions. I tell ya, we’re world champions. I can’t believe it.”

Lovable losers for generations, the Cubs nearly let this one get away, too.  All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman blew a three-run lead with two outs in the eighth inning when Rajai Davis hit a game-tying homer.

But the Cubs, after tormenting their fans one more time, came right back after a 17-minute rain delay before the top of the 10th.

Ben Zobrist hit an RBI double and Miguel Montero singled home a run to make it 8-6. Davis delivered an RBI single with two outs in the bottom half, but Mike Montgomery closed it out at 12:47 a.m., and the celebration was on.

Blue-clad Cubs fans who traveled from Wrigley Field filled nearly the entire lower deck behind the Chicago dugout at Progressive Field, singing “Go Cubs! Go!”

Manager Joe Maddon’s team halted the longest championship drought in baseball history as his club became the first to overcome a 3-1 Series deficit since the 1985 Kansas City Royals.

The Cubs were last champions when Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance won consecutive titles in 1907-08, until now the only ones in team history.

The Cubbies had not even reached the Series since 1945.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.