Chicago Cubs: Mr. Most Valuable

The likely NL MVP was painfully invisible in the early games of the World Series. His arrival in the second half of the series is a huge reason why the Chicago Cubs came back from 3-1.

The dust has settled on the Chicago Cubs World Series Championship. The final out has been recorded. The champagne has been popped. The fans have celebrated. The team has returned home. And the parade route has been traveled.

In a World Series that wasn’t particularly exciting as a whole, we were treated to one of the best games of all time in game 7. With everything on the line, two teams with far too much ugly history battled it out for 10 innings. Many great stories have been written about that game, ranging from immediate reactions to a historical championship to long-winded reviews the day after. While the story of game 7 is a great one, the story of how the Cubs got there is just as enticing.

I won’t bore you with the long-winded history of everything the Cubs did to build a championship team. Just a little over five years after Theo Epstein joined the Chicago Cubs organization, he and the Cubs were hoisting a World Series trophy. A lot of work was done by him and his team to get to that moment on Wednesday night. However, the players on the field ultimately controlled the destiny of the championship Cubs.

It wasn’t a task to be taken on alone. No single player is capable of accomplishing a World Series victory. That was evident in game 7 most of all. From Dexter Fowler‘s lead off home run to Jason Heyward‘s inspiring rain delay speech to David Ross hitting a home run in his final Major League Baseball game. The Cubs won with extraordinary depth and impressive teamwork. However, they were greatly helped by one player all season long. That player became ultra-important during (probably) the most important series in Chicago Cubs history. That player is Kris Bryant.

Kris Bryant dominated baseball this season, both as a hitter and in the field. Throughout the entire season and postseason, he was consistent in the field. At the plate, he went through the normal ups and downs of a season. He had many more ups than downs, but every player goes through a few games strung together where they aren’t seeing the ball.

One of Bryant’s very few rough patches happened to occur during the first few games of the World Series. As the Cubs offense was shut down in games 1, 3, and 4, his struggles fell under a magnifying glass. He went 0-3 in each one of those three games. The Cubs lost all three.

Following game 4, the Cubs had their backs against a wall. They were down 3-1 and just one loss away from failing to win the World Series for a 108th season in a row. It was in that important moment that Kris Bryant, the MVP, showed back up. In game 5, he only had a single hit; however, that hit was a big home run in a close 3-2 game.

Game 6 was a breakout game for Bryant, who helped propel the Cubs offense to a huge victory, pushing the series to a game 7. He went 4-5 in that game, hitting a home run for the second game in a row. He was the first Chicago Cubs player to ever achieve that feat in a World Series. He capped off the series with a 1-4 night in game 7 where he scored two key runs, one coming from great base running.

Any questions about Bryant showing up in the big moment were laid to rest. He didn’t win the World Series MVP, but in many ways he was the most important player for the Cubs. His presence in the lineup in the final three games of the series changed the face of the Chicago Cubs offense. His performance in the final games of the series were vital to the Chicago Cubs winning a historic game 7 on their way to their first World Series victory in over 100 years.