You could almost hear a pin drop in Wrigleyville.
Cubs fans were quiet after the Cubs’ fourth World Series game against the Cleveland Indians Saturday. The Cubs lost 7-2, leaving the Indians one game away from winning the World Series.
But they were still hopeful.
“We’re all sad right now, but the Cubs have done some amazing things this season, so anything is possible,” said fan Jaime Flores, who travelled from Mexico to watch the game.
Greg Aglipay, who flew from Texas and watched the game from outside the Sports Corner bar, had a similar attitude.
“This is tough, but the Cubs pulled through with the Dodgers, so we can do that again tomorrow,” Aglipay said. “I’ll always believe in them and love them, and that’s what counts.”
“I’ve got a good feeling about tomorrow,” said another fan, Braulio Castaneda. “It’s been great to see them make it this far. It’s been an exciting run, and it’s still not over.”
The atmosphere in Wrigleyville was tense, but celebratory in the hours leading up to the game. Fans refused to let the disappointment of Friday’s defeat stop their excitement for Saturday’s game, flocking to the neighborhood around the ballpark hours before the first pitch.
“We never quit,” said Melina Arroyo, leaning over a fence from inside a patio outside Murphy’s Bleachers before the game.
Arroyo and her two sisters, Melissa and Angelica, flew in from San Antonio, Texas, on Friday night and then waited two hours and paid a $100 cover charge to secure their spot in Murphy’s to watch the game. Collectively, they spent around $1,400 on airfare, they said, but the price was worth the experience.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime deal, so we have to be here,” Melina said. “We grew up in Chicago but moved in 2010. We had to come back to celebrate.”
Cubs fans who got to Wrigley early took pictures in front of the marquee and cheered as Cubs infielder Javier Báez drove into the field with his window down to wave to fans.
Ninety-one-year-old Paul Cascio, with his daughter Shirley Handley, sat in a lawn chair outside the stadium’s gates waiting to get in. Handley said they spent around $3,000 on the tickets so her father, who remembers watching the Cubs lose the World Series in 1945, could see his favorite team play.
“If the Cubs win [the World Series], then I would be the happiest person in the world,” Cascio said. “I’ve waited a long time to see this again.
Fans without tickets gathered near the corner of Sheffield and Waveland to watch the game from outside Wrigley Field on TVs set up in bar windows or on people’s’ front lawns.
Jaime Ponce and his fiancé, Letticia Kinch, watched the game outside from a TV hung in somebody’s window. The couple drove from Indiana to see the Cubs play, and were hoping to see their team win.
Still, Ponce was hopeful as he clung to the possibility of the Cubs winning the next three games and becoming World Series champions.
“I’m a little disappointed after all the hype the Cubs have had this year, but there’s still tomorrow’s game and if they win that, then we can still win the series,” he said.
