Like in 1907-08 Cubs look for back-to-back

CHICAGO – No more Lovable Losers. Forget those curses, too.

The Chicago Cubs ended decades of heartache and futility by beating the Cleveland Indians for their first championship since 1908. And that means for the first time in 108 years, the Cubs can – get this – turn their attention toward a repeat.

They finally wiped out baseball’s longest title drought early Thursday in Cleveland when third baseman Kris Bryant fielded Michael Martinez’s grounder off Mike Montgomery and threw to Anthony Rizzo at first, closing out an epic Game 7 of the World Series against the Indians.

That set off a celebration in Chicago more than a century in the making, and it was still going on Thursday afternoon. Fans jammed the sidewalks outside Wrigley Field taking photos under the famed marquee, which read “WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS.”

Across the street at the corner of Clark and Addison, the line to get into a sportswear store selling Cubs merchandise stretched around the corner.

There will be a championship parade starting at Wrigley Field followed by a rally at Grant Park on Friday.

“We’re in the books,” Rizzo said. “We’re in history forever. This team is brothers forever no matter what.”

World Series favorites from the start, the Cubs spent almost the entire season in first place on the way to a 103-58 record – their highest win total since the 1910 team won 104 games.

They beat playoff-tested San Francisco in the Division Series. They shook off back-to-back shutout losses and a 2-1 deficit against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series to capture their first pennant in 71 years.

They topped it all off when they became the first team since the 1985 Kansas City Royals to overcome a 3-1 World Series deficit to win the title. And now, that championship W flies.