Jason Kipnis Reminisces on the 2016 World Series and It’s Unforgettable Moments

“I thought it was one of the more likable teams…such a fun team.”

Those were the words of former Jason Kipnis before he and the rest of Cleveland’s 2016 World Series team were honored at Progressive Field on Friday night, nearly a decade removed from one of the most heartbreaking finishes in baseball history.

But for Jason Kipnis, the heartbreak everyone remembers, losing Game 7 in extra innings, feels different. Nearly every time Cleveland’s 2016 season is brought up, the conversation is somber, and rightfully so. To Kipnis, it’s far more personal.

“God, it would mean more to me [to win a World Series],” Kipnis said, following a moment to pause, breathe and think everything through.

He wishes the series had ended differently. Instead of sitting through a rain delay before returning to the field and falling in the final embers of Game 7, he could have been celebrating as a World Series champion.

His Game 7 Moment

It was the kind of game where everything that happened before it, every slump, every hot streak, every triumph and failure, suddenly no longer mattered.

For Kipnis, it birthed one of his favorite memories. One that still brings him goose bumps to speak about.

Late in the game, after reaching base on a bunt single, Kipnis understood the moment immediately. Opportunities like that did not come often, especially against a bullpen as talented as Chicago’s that had been surging the past two games.

When a wild pitch from reliever Jon Lester skipped away from David Ross, who was stationed behind home plate, Kipnis never hesitated. Racing home from second base, he slid across the plate to score alongside Carlos Santana, who was on the base paths ahead of him.

It was just the third time in World Series history that two base runners had scored on the same wild pitch.

For a brief moment, it felt like the championship drought was truly about to end.

“I see it hits the side of his [Ross’s] face and knocks him one way, ball goes back the other,” he said, reminiscing on that specific moment. “Within 0.1 seconds, I was like… ‘it’s happening,’ like I’m screaming, like it’s happening, and I just absolutely rounded it [the bases]. The adrenaline rush, I was like, this is what we needed to get back into this game. It covered the deficit a little bit, and it did. It gave us a momentum boost.

“It kind of brought us back into two-run territory and restarted the game a little bit.”

The Crushing Yet Unforgettable Finish

At the time of Kipnis’ sprint from second, Cleveland was down four runs and seemed to be out of the contest, but from that moment forward, the Indians were able to bring back balance to the contest. They went on to allow just one run, scoring five in the process, down the stretch of regulation.

Kipnis started the comeback, Rajai Davis continued it.

In the eighth inning, with the scoreline sitting 6-4, Davis stepped up to the plate with two outs and a runner on first. Kipnis, who was in the dugout at the time, still watches this moment back to this day.

“‘Ive gone back and watched that one highlight more than anything else,” he said.

Cubs reliever Aroldis Chapman rifled a 98 mph fastball at Davis, who stood in confidently, bashing the ball over the left-field wall at 101.5 mph at a 22-degree launch angle. It barely cleared the towering left field wall, sending Cleveland into screams.

“The noise, the looking around… I have chills right now,” he said, looking down at his right arm. “It was the first time I felt like, oh, that’s what pandemonium is. That’s like this is what the word is.

“Just the noise and everybody going crazy and the momentum shift and just what it meant to us right there. God, you’d run through a wall right then and there.”

Although Cleveland ultimately fell short in extra innings, the emotion from that night has never disappeared. For everyone involved, fans, front office members, players and others, it remains one of the most gut-wrenching losses in the organization’s history.

For players like Kipnis, it also stands as one of the most meaningful experiences of their lives.

Nearly a decade later, moments from that series still live on throughout the city.

Davis’ home run, a moment that likely awoke the entire city, is still recognized to this day. On Saturday, May 16, the first 15,000 fans who enter Progressive Stadium will be given a bobblehead to commemorate such a moment.

But first, a day earlier, the entire squad will be given its flowers before the Guardians’ series-opener against the Cincinnati Reds. And there, on the field, Kipnis can look around at the Cleveland faithful, many of whom had packed Progressive Field nearly 10 years ago, and think back to moments that won’t ever be forgotten.