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Chicago Cubs World Series: How they match up with the Cleveland Indians

By Carlos Nazario

Oct 22, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts (left) hands the National League Championship Trophy to President of Baseball operations Theo Epstein after game six of the 2016 NLCS playoff baseball series at Wrigley Field. Cubs win 5-0 to advance to the World Series. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 22, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts (left) hands the National League Championship Trophy to President of Baseball operations Theo Epstein after game six of the 2016 NLCS playoff baseball series at Wrigley Field. Cubs win 5-0 to advance to the World Series. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports /
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Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports /

The World Series is upon us. The Chicago Cubs take on the Cleveland Indians in Game One on Tuesday. We take a look at how the two teams match up.

Tuesday is the day Chicago Cubs Nation waited seventy-one years to finally experience — the World Series. The Cubs face another team that went a long time without winning a title, the Cleveland Indians. The Indians have played in a World Series after the Cubs, but they have not won one since 1948.

The Cubs and Indians own two of three longest title droughts in major sports. The Arizona Cardinals last won a title in 1947, when they were located, ironically, in Chicago. The Series starts in Cleveland, so Chicago has a few days before they host the party. The two teams meet at Wrigley Field over the weekend, starting Friday.

While the Cubs are the sexy pick, the Indians are the hottest team right now. They are 7-1 in the playoffs.

Putting behind all the “how long it’s been since they’ve been here before” talk, how do the teams match up? The Chicago Cubs were expected to be here. They finished the season with 103 wins, tops in baseball. They own the most complete team, and many think this season is World Series or bust.

The Indians are a different story. Sure, they were expected to compete for the American League Central title, but with the Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox, the trail to the World Series for them was improbable.

While the Cubs are the sexy pick, the Indians are the hottest team right now. They are 7-1 in the playoffs. In the American League Championship Series, they scored just twelve runs, yet they were able to handle the Blue Jays pretty easily.

The Cubs struggled with their offense in the postseason, and needed a miraculous ninth inning comeback to prevent a Game 5 in the National League Division Series, and were actually down 2-1 in the National League Championship Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers before reeling three wins in a row to advance.

So let’s take a look at the two teams and see how they match up:

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