On This Day in History: Chicago Cubs Win Game Five of 2016 World Series

On Oct. 30, 2016, the Chicago Cubs took game five of the 2016 World Series, forcing the series back to Cleveland for game six.

Author:
Payton Havermann
Publish date:
Oct 30, 2022 7:23 PM EDT

In this story:

Chicago Cubs

Entering game five of the 2016 World Series, the vibe around the Chicago Cubs was not a good one. The Cubs had fallen behind 3-1 in the series to the Cleveland Indians, including games three and four in Chicago. They faced being eliminated at Wrigley Field in game five, a bitter end to a magical season.

The feeling did not improve early in the pivotal fifth game either. In the second inning, Cleveland third baseman Jose Ramirez off of Cubs ace Jon Lester gave the Indians a 1-0 lead, only heightening fears of elimination. In the fourth inning, however, the series changed on a dime.

Facing Trevor Bauer who had been rolling to that point, Kris Bryant cracked a leadoff home run that finally broke the ice for the Cubs offense. Chicago grabbed two more runs in the frame, one on an infield single from Addison Russell and the other on a sac fly from David Ross to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead.

That would be all for Chicago's offense, as Cleveland's bullpen held the Cubs scoreless for the final four innings, putting the pressure on Chicago's pitching. Lester finished with a fantastic six-inning performance, allowing just one further run in the sixth on a Francisco Lindor RBI single.

From there, Cubs manager Joe Maddon turned to the bullpen, but after Carl Edwards retired just one man in the seventh, Maddon gave the ball to closer Aroldis Chapman going for the eight-out save. Chapman gave him just that, allowing just one baserunner and striking out four across the final 2.2 innings to keep Chicago's season alive and avoid being eliminated at home.

The Cubs of course would go on to blow out Cleveland in game six, before winning an extra-inning classic in game seven to win the franchise's first World Series in 108 years.