Worth a Thousand Words: Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo

It was November 2, 2016, at Progressive Field in Cleveland. The Cubs led the Indians 8-6 in the tenth inning of Game 7 of the World Series. They were only one out away from that which their fans had dreamed of for so many decades. 

    

KRIS BRYANT (foreground) and ANTHONY RIZZO.

Then Cleveland's Brandon Guyer coaxed a walk from Cubs reliever Carl Edwards and promptly stole second. Rajai Davis, whose two-run homer off Aroldis Chapman had tied the ballgame in the eighth inning, rapped the next pitch over second base to score Guyer. 

     Cubs manager Joe Maddon called on lefty Mike Montgomery to face the next htter, Michael Martinez. Martinez took the first pitch for a called strike. He swung at the next offering and chopped it to the left of the mound. Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant charged in, made a nifty pickup on the run, and fired the ball across the infield as his feet slipped out from under him on the wet grass.

     Despite Bryant's slip, the throw was true. It landed in first baseman Anthony Rizzo's glove with Martinez still about two steps from the bag, and that was that. 

     "The Chicago Cubs are world champions," Rizzo said after the game. "Let that sink in."

 

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