Epstein a lock for Hall

It was a great World Series.
Well, unless you are a Cleveland fan.
In that case, you’re sick of the Chicago faithful talking about “flying the W” and singing “go Cubs go.” (Although, it’s hard to deny that’s a pretty catchy little tune.)
I never wanted this matchup. As great as it was for baseball, for an Indians fan in the World Series against the Cubs it was a true “us against the world” situation.
That’s as it should be. The baseball world should have been rooting for a team that had gone through a 108-year championship drought, even if that team was up against another that had been title-less for 68 years. Had Chicago been playing against any team other than the Indians, I would have been on the bandwagon.
But I promised myself after the Cavaliers won the NBA crown in June that I wouldn’t be complaining about Cleveland sports for a long time. And I won’t.
Though I didn’t enjoy the outcome, it’s undeniable that game seven of the 2016 World Series will go down as one of the most memorable games in the history of the sport. It left me both hoarse — there may have been some screaming when Rajai Davis tied the game with his home run — and heartbroken. It’s those ups and downs, felt by both teams and their fans, that made it special.
Put it up there with game seven in 1960 (the Bill Mazeroski home run), game one in 1988 (the Kirk Gibson home run) or game seven in 1991 (the pitchers’ duel between Jack Morris and John Smoltz).

The entire series was full of story lines, from the leadership of David Ross, to the dominance of Andrew Miller and Corey Kluber, to the miraculous comeback of Kyle Schwarber. (Joe Buck may have mentioned that last one a time or two.)
But perhaps no one had a bigger impact on the series than a guy who never stepped foot on the diamond.
That man is Theo Epstein. And, if he wasn’t already, he is now undeniably a Hall of Famer.
It is such a sure thing that they should just forge his bust now. It can sit on a shelf and wait to be delivered to Cooperstown. But it will without question be there someday.
What other option is there for a man who first oversaw a team that broke the “Curse of the Bambino” when the Boston Red Sox ended an 86-year title drought in 2004 and then went to the only team that was even more snakebitten and built a squad that would end more than a century of futility?
Any baseball fan who’d like to be inspired can simply Google “Cubs hire Theo Epstein” and read any of the stories that pops up about his 2011 hiring in Chicago. He says all the right things about not believing in curses and building a winning organization.
But it’s one thing to talk, and it’s another thing to do fulfill the promise. And to do it twice, in the two most downtrodden cities in Major League Baseball, well, that’s Hall of Fame stuff.
In Boston, Epstein traded fan favorite Nomar Garciaparra (to the Cubs). He brought in Johnny Damon, Curt Schilling, Kevin Millar and David Ortiz, a player who had never hit more than 20 home runs in his career but then averaged more than 40 over the next five seasons.
His teams won the World Series in 2004, rallying to win eight straight games after falling being 3-0 to the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series, and 2007.
He eventually left Boston, and upon taking the job with the Cubs promised he had a plan.
“We’re going to build the best baseball operation we can,” he said. “We’re going to change the culture. Our players are going to change the culture along with us in the major league clubhouse. We’re going to make building a foundation for sustained success a priority. That will lead to playing October baseball more often than not. Once you get in in October there’s a legitimate chance to win the World Series.”
He did it all, mostly by building a strong minor league system that has resulted in Major Leaguers like Kris Bryant and Javier Baez, both first-round draft picks. Key trades, like bringing in Aroldis Chapman this summer, helped finish the job.
With Epstein at the helm, something tells me the fans on the north side of Chicago won’t be waiting to 2124 to celebrate again. I just hope the next one isn’t at the expense of the team from northeast Ohio.