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MLB WORLD SERIES: CUBS VS INDIANSNovember 2, 2016Ben ZobristCleveland, Ohio - Postgame 7 Chicago Cubs - 8, Cleveland Indians - 7 THE MODERATOR: Questions for Ben Zobrist. Q. What is the difference between the first championship and this one? I know the first one is always the memorable one, but how would you compare this one? BEN ZOBRIST: Man, this one about made me pass out. I felt like the way that the series has been up and down and then Game 7 here, the elation of getting up early in the game and the feeling like we have the game in our grasp, and then it getting away in the bottom of the 8th, and having a little rain delay and coming back and scoring those two in the 10th. It was just an epic battle. We've been listening to Rocky's soundtrack the last three games. We've got our own Italian Stallion, Anthony Rizzo, that's been putting that on. It was like a heavyweight fight, man. Just blow for blow, everybody playing their heart out. The Indians never gave up either, and I can't believe we're finally standing, after 108 years, finally able to hoist the trophy. Q. I was wondering two things: One, how important was that rain delay for you guys and sort of getting yourselves together? And secondly, what were you looking at in that last at-bat? Did you have an approach or were you just trying to hit it? BEN ZOBRIST: Well, the rain delay I think was really important for our team because we got everybody, all the players down into the weight room. J-Hey called a meeting and said, "Come in here, I've got something to say." And he said, "You know what, whatever's happened up to this point in the game, we've got to forget about it. It's over. We're still the best team. We're going to pull this thing out. We need to pull together and chip away. We're going to win this game." And everybody kind of rallied together like we've always done all year long. That would have been tough. Most teams would have folded in that moment where we lost that lead and hat's off to J, and Rossy, and our other leaders for just making that moment happen and kind of turning the page for us. And then you get Schwarber coming up after the break and gets a big hit right away, and you feel like it's on and we're going to do this. As far as the at-bat goes, I was looking for a cutter out over the plate. He throws a really tough pitch to hit, and I was trying to stay inside of it. You know, I wasn't able to do it early in the at-bat. It was a tough at-bat and I was just battling, grinding up there. Fortunately that last one he left over the plate and up to where I could just slap it down the line, and that's all I was trying to do and just out of the reach of the third baseman. Q. Miller and Kluber had been so good in this series up until this game. What was different tonight that allowed you guys to have more success against those two guys? BEN ZOBRIST: Well, obviously we've seen them a lot, and I think our team all year long has made adjustments. Even though we've got a lot of young players offensively, guys have done a great job of making adjustments the second, third time you see a guy. And I think our ERA against pitchers the third time we see them in the season was pretty high. So we knew that we would have a shot to do what we were able to do to Kluber early in the game. And we were just hoping he wasn't quite as sharp. Hat's off to him for being such a stud for their team and coming back after short rest both his second and third starts in the series. I just feel like we were able to make the adjustment because we saw them more. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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