Marty’s Musings: Congrats Cubs, farewell 2016

Welcome to ‘Marty's Musings', my weekly column of numbers summarizing the past week in Major League Baseball and looking forward to this week’s key matchups. I am your guide for taking an analytic look at the previous week in MLB and previewing some of this week's key matchups, identifying numbers that are generally not found in a standard box score.

In this week’s edition, we celebrate the Cubs, commend the Indians on their fantastic playoff run, and take a look at the first trades of the 2016 offseason.

Celebrating a fantastic World Series

108 - Years of toiling in the baseball desert, waiting for a World Series championship. With much talk of curses, goats, and missed opportunities, the 2016 team shut the door on it all. The World Series will be remembered for the Cubs breaking the longest drought in American sport, but frankly, it had to be won this way.

8 - Teams that came back to win Games 6 and 7 on the road to take home the World Series title. It had not happened since the 1979 Pirates won the Series in seven games against the Baltimore Orioles. Like the Cubs, the Buccos were down 3-1 heading back to their opponent’s home park.

1 - Pitcher has won Games 1/4/7 in the World Series: Bob Gibson. Corey Kluber started all three games for the Indians, but ultimately fell short in Game 7, in large part due to the previously stressful innings put on his arm.

1 - Leadoff home run in a World Series Game 7. Dexter Fowler became part of baseball trivia by homering on the fourth pitch of the game against Corey Kluber.

0 - Strikeouts for Corey Kluber in Game 7. It is the only time in his 140-start career he departed from a game without posting one K.

27 - Runs scored for both the Indians and Cubs over the seven-game series. It was about as evenly matched a series as one can hope for, with the Cubs having a better game seven tenth inning than the Tribe. It’s a tough way to go out, for sure.

2 - Times in a row that the road team has won the World Series. The Giants took game seven of the 2014 World Series in Kansas City, and the Cubs clinched in Cleveland. All in all, nine of the last 11 Game 7s have been won by the home team, with San Francisco and Chicago as the only exceptions.

6 - Runs batted in for Addison Russell in Game 6 of the World Series. Russell tied a single-game record held by Bobby Richardson of the 1960 Yankees, Hideki Matsui of the 2009 Yankees, and Albert Pujols, who managed to drive in six runs in the World Series in 2011. Adding to the fun, at the age of 22, Russell became the second-youngest player to ever hit a grand slam in the World Series (Mickey Mantle is the youngest).

5,000,000 - People who supposedly came out to celebrate the Cubs victory parade last Friday. Believe it, be skeptical of it, but whatever you decide, it was a huge party in Chicago last week with cheers from those who witnessed it and tears from fans who had loved ones pass on and could not share the moment with them.

Other baseball news

2 - Trades already reportedly completed since the end of the World Series. The Tigers officially sent Cameron Maybin to the Angels for righty Victor Alcantara. That trade has been announced, while Carlos Ruiz is supposedly going from the Dodgers to the Mariners, but has yet to become official.

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Congratulations Cubs; better luck next year, Cleveland.

The Hot Stove is upon us.