Chicago Cubs break ‘curse of the Billy Goat’ to win World Series

The curse that lasted for a longest period in the history of professional sports has been broken.

The Chicago Cubs have won the U.S. Major League Baseball’s World Series title for the first time in 108 years. The Cubs won Game 7, the final of this year’s World Series against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio on Wednesday by beating the Indians 8-7 in the 10th inning to become the champion with four wins and three losses overall. After struggling amid "the curse of the Billy Goat" and failed to win the World Series trophy since clinching the title in two consecutive years in 1907 and 1908, the Cubs have finally ended the curse.

“The fact is that it's today. It's now. It's present tense. And I totally respect what has happened in the past and I totally respect our fan base. But if you just want to carry the burden with you all the time, tonight would never happen,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “The burden has been lifted. It should have never been there in the first place, I don't think, but now we can move forward.”

He gave positive assessment to the Indians, which displayed a neck-and-neck race to the last minute. The Indians aimed for the championship for the first time in 68 years but took over the title of the team that has won no championship for the longest period of time from the Cubs. The Most Valuable Player award went to Benjamin Zobrist, who had a timely two-base hit to reverse the score in the top of the 10th inning.

Cubs fans got extremely excited. Jim Mowiri, who watched the Cubs win the World Series at the Wrigley Field at age 12 in 1945, watched the Cubs clinch the championship at Progressive Field as an aged man on the day. Mowiri expressed his overflowing joy, by saying that he can hardly imagine how they did this. The City of Chicago also went wild. Cubs fans packing around the Wrigley Field waved "white flags with W sign on it" that

symbolizes victory, and enjoyed the night of victory that came for the first time in 108 years.

A number of rare records have also been posted, as the games are set to remain as the historic events for years to come. The Cubs became the sixth team in the Major League history to win the title by coming from behind after having one win and three losses. It was the seventh team in history for a team to win the title by winning Games 6 and 7 in away games. Dexter Fowler hit a homerun in the top of the first inning, as the first batter is the first of its kind that has been recorded in Game 7 of a World Series in the Major League history.

KANG HONG GU windup@donga.com