Cubs fans ready to celebrate title
Ecstatic Chicago Cubs fans are expected to amass downtown Friday for a parade and rally to honor the new World Series champions.
The celebration of the Cubs’ first title in 108 years will kick off when team buses leave Wrigley Field at 10 a.m. for an official launch of the parade at 11 a.m. The procession will begin at the intersection of famed Michigan Avenue and Oak Street, heading south, then continue along Columbus Drive to Grant Park for a noon rally.
“The City of Chicago could not be more proud of the Cubs, and we are going to throw them — and their fans — a celebration worthy of the history the team made last night,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Thursday in a release.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has proclaimed Friday as “World Champion Chicago Cubs Day” across the state. Rauner called the win “bigger than baseball.”
“This is a celebration for past and present fans along with all the Cubs’ legends who never gave up hope,” he said.
The noon rally will be held at Grant Park’s Hutchinson Field. The celebration comes two days after the Cubs’ dramatic 8-7, extra-inning Game 7 victory in Cleveland.
About 2 million people attended a parade and rally when the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2015, according to city estimates.
The city’s 390,000 public-school students will be able to attend. Friday was already a scheduled day off for Chicago Public Schools.
Like many die-hard Cubs fans, Bill Murray has finally been rewarded for his allegiance to Chicago’s lovable losers with the team’s first World Series title since 1908.
The Chicago native has served as a sort of team mascot, following the Cubs though their playoff run. The actor threw his arm in the air as the Cubs notched the final out.
He later celebrated by swigging champagne with players in the Cubs’ clubhouse and telling reporters trying to interview him to “relax a bit” before dousing the group with bubbly. Murray told ESPN that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel will give the city’s school kids the rest of the week off “if he’s as good a mayor as he wants to be.”
White House invite: President Barack Obama has invited the World Series champion Chicago Cubs to visit him at the White House. The team will have to make travel arrangements quickly, though, because Obama leaves office in mid-January.
Obama extended the invitation to manager Joe Maddon during a congratulatory telephone call Thursday evening as he flew back to Washington aboard Air Force One.
Obama tweeted the invitation early Thursday, shortly after the Cubs won Game 7. “It happened: (at) Cubs win World Series. That’s change even this South Sider can believe in. Want to come to the White House before I leave?”
The Cubs aren’t Obama’s preferred baseball team; his loyalties lie with the White Sox. White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Obama rooted for the Cubs because he’s from Chicago and the White Sox didn’t make it to the championship.
Free agency: Baseball’s business season began Thursday when more than 100 players became free agents and teams started making decisions on 2017 options.
Among the potential free agents are outfielders Yoenis Cespedes, Jose Bautista, Mark Trumbo, Josh Reddick and Ian Desmond; first baseman Edwin Encarnacion; catcher Matt Wieters; and closers Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen and Mark Melancon. They can start talking money with teams on Tuesday .
Clubs must decide by Monday whether to make $17.2 million qualifying offers to their players who became free agents, which would attach draft-pick compensation if they sign elsewhere. Only players who spent the entire season with one team are eligible for the offers.
Texas said it will make a qualifying offer to Desmond, and the two-time All- Star will have until Nov. 14 to accept.
Among potential free agents, Philadelphia declined a $23 million club option on first baseman Ryan Howard, who gets a $10 million buyout. Boston exercised a $17.2 million option on designated hitter David Ortiz “as a formality,” even though the 40year- old slugger has said he will retire.
The team also exercised a $13 million option on right hander Clay Buchholz and declined a $3.75 million option on catcher Ryan Hanigan, who gets an $800,000 buyout.
Others whose options were exercised include Mets outfielder Jay Bruce ($13 million) and infielder Jose Reyes (minimum salary), Washington lefthander Gio Gonzalez ($12 million), Detroit closer Francisco Rodriguez ($6 million), Seattle outfielder Seth Smith ($7 million) and Texas catcher Jonathan Lucroy ($5.25 million).
Among those whose options were declined were Chicago White Sox pitcher Matt Albers, Seattle-catcher Chris Iannetta, Miami reliever Fernando Rodney, Mets left-hander Jon Niese and Washington righthander Yusmeiro Petit. In another move, the Houston Astros claimed outfielder Nori Aoki off waivers from Seattle.
Angels get Maybin: In the first trade since the World Series, the Los Angeles Angels acquired outfielder Cameron Maybin from the Detroit Tigers for minor league right-hander Victor Alcantara.
Maybin batted a careerbest .315 with four homers, 43 RBIs and 15 stolen bases in 94 games this year for the Tigers, posting one of his best big league seasons despite injury problems. The Angels said they will exercise his $9 million option.
Cardinals: Manager Mike Matheny, whose team missed the playoffs in 2016 for the first time in his fiveyear tenure, has agreed to a three-year contract extension. Terms were not disclosed. Matheny had one year remaining on his previous contract, and the extension keeps him with the team through 2020.