2016 has been a great year for Cleveland. The Cavs success as NBA Champions rubbed off on the Indians. Unexpectedly they made the playoffs and advanced to the World Series. It was quite exciting and we got the kids involved.
Our family has always been more of a basketball family. We have attended countless basketball games, but only a few baseball games. The longer games and slower pace never appealed to us. Austin and Sydney have gone to 2-3 Indians games, but that was all. We usually tried to make one each year and often focused on a night with fireworks to make it more worthwhile. In 2016 we intended to take the kids to one Indians game, but it never worked out.
Although we are not into baseball, our hometown Indians are definitely our team. We wouldn't consider supporting anyone else. Unlike basketball, we are more fair weather fans though. We rooted on the Indians on TV throughout the playoffs (even briefly buying a SlingTV subscription to get games). As they reached the World Series, the Indians started having watch parties for away games. We knew how much fun these can be from our personal experiences with the Cavs. So we set out to take the kids to at least one or two of them. In the end, we ended up going downtown for 4 out of the 7 World Series games!
Game 1 was on Tuesday October 25. It was in Cleveland. It was the same night that the Cleveland Cavaliers opened their season and received their NBA Championship rings. We had 2 tickets and always planned to go. With the World Series starting and the Cavs opening the season, downtown was the place to be. We had a babysitter planned for the kids. We got downtown hours before the game to soak it in. During the Cavs game, there were regular updates on the Indians including live feeds at times. After the game the Cavs let fans stay to watch the entire game on the giant screens. We stayed and watched the Indians game for a while. Then we went outside to the outdoor watch party and watched a little there. It was cold and we left before the end, but it was exciting. The Indians won 6-0.
When the series headed off to Chicago for games 3, 4, and 5, the Indians announced they would have watch parties at Progressive Field. Brian bought 4 tickets for Game 3 so we could go. It was on a Friday night. The kids knew the Indians were in the playoffs and in the final round and wanted to go to a game. Since ticket prices were outrageous, this was the next best thing. It was a colder night, but we bundled up and watched the game at the ballpark. We left a little early as the kids got tired. We watched the rest at home. Overall it was a great night out. The Indians won again 1-0.
The watch parties were new for baseball fans, so they didn't sell out as quickly as they did for the Cavs. People probably didn't realize how much fun they could be. Since tickets were still available midweek ($5 each), Brian bought 2 for Austin and him for Game 4. Game 4 was on Saturday night and did sell out eventually since it was unseasonably warm (in the 60s that evening). The Cavs played that night too and Austin and Brian were planning to go to that game to get a mini championship banner. Amy and Sydney were staying home. It was Trick or Treat. Both kids went for about 30-40 minutes and then Brian and Austin left for the Cavs game. This is what Austin wanted to do, but Sydney picked Trick or Treat. She stayed for the full 2 hours for that. Brian and Austin watched the entire Cavs game. When it was over, they walked over to the Indians game and watched it on TV with the other fans at the watch party inside the ballpark. It was fun. The Indians won 7-2. Since the Indians were up 3-1 in the series, downtown was a buzz. Brian and Austin walked around and high fived people after the game. Austin loved it. Since the Indians were winning, fans were also entertained by making pieces of paper from the tickets into paper airplanes and seeing how far they could fly. Some made it onto the field from the upper decks. Even that was fun to watch.
Games 5-6 were on school nights, so we stayed home. The Cubs tied up the series 3-3 and forced a game 7 in Cleveland. It was on a Wednesday night though. This is a school night for Austin. It's hard for him since school starts at 8am, so taking him downtown wasn't ideal. Brian talked about it, but wasn't sure. Amy didn't want to go and knew Sydney didn't want to go either. Even when we went as a family, Sydney was asking if she could go home yet.
On the night of the game, Brian talked to Austin as he put him to bed. Austin wanted to go downtown if the Indians won and asked Brian to wake him up. Brian gave him some reasons why not and Austin came up with ways to work around them. Brian told Austin to go to sleep so he could get rest. Austin went to bed around 7:50 and the game started at 8:00. From 8-9, Brian listened to the game in the garage while fixing Christmas lights. When he finished, he came in the house and decided he was going downtown. Amy quickly helped pack him and Austin up with snacks and a change of clothes.
The plan was to take Austin downtown. We wouldn't wake up Austin and he would sleep in the car. Downtown, he could continue to sleep. Brian was going to find parking and then listen to the game on the radio. If the game was close, he'd wake up Austin and walk to the ballpark. If not, he'd just go home. It would allow him to be downtown if they won to celebrate. In the NBA Finals, the parade and everything was fun but the celebration right after the final victory was clearly the best. They typically close the streets to downtown to avoid a flood of people celebrating, so we knew we had to be down there before the game ended to avoid being locked out.
The plan sounded great. Austin wouldn't lose that much sleep. It fell apart though when Austin woke up as Brian parked the car (streets were already partially closed so there was a lot of starting and stopping to navigate around this to get parking). Austin was wide awake and clearly wasn't going back to sleep. Even though the game was tied 1-1 as Brian headed downtown, the Cubs had scored and had momentum and the Indians were trailing. It didn't look good. Figuring that it might be an early night, Brian decided to take Austin straight to the game. He could watch a few innings outside the stadium at the watch party. Then he could go home early and Brian could watch the ending at home. Austin would still get enough sleep. Brian had brought an Indians shirt to change Austin into, but forgot to put it on. Since he didn't intend to stay terribly long, he didn't bring any food or snacks either. Austin was flexible with that, but we ended up being gone for 3+ hours!
Since Brian arrived so late to the game (around the 3rd inning or so), he had to park down near Brown's Stadium and walk about 0.8 miles to the game. The parking deck had signs warning that the deck closed at 1am. Any cars left inside at that time would be locked in all night. Brian noted that, but it wasn't too concerning since he thought he'd be back well before midnight even. It was only 9:30.
Brian walked to the game with Austin on his shoulders. It was a beautiful night with temps near 70, so it felt like summer. They briefly paused at bars to watch parts of the game through open windows as the Indians scored and started to close the gap. People were cheering throughout the city and the game could be heard along the walk. Once they got to Progressive Field, they walked around. There was a massive watch party between Quicken Loans arena and the ballpark. They had 2 giant screens. There was another watch part on the other side of Quicken Loans arena too. Brian put Austin up on his shoulder so he could see and stood in the back near the arena to avoid blocking people's view. Since Brian is tall, he could see and so could Austin even though there were lots of people.
The game was far from over though. Instead of heading home quickly, it drew us in. We watched as the Indians scored a home run to tie the game! Austin was chanting "Let's Go Tribe" with the people and cheering. Everyone went crazy when they hit the homerun (I even have a video of that). It was great fun.
The score was tied going into the bottom of the 9th. The Indians could win it all! There was even a foul ball that looked like it was going to be a home run. Everyone started to go crazy, but then realized it wasn't a homer. As it went to extra innings, it started to rain. They issued a rain delay. It was odd since it had rained once before and was similar in both duration and strength. Previously they played through it. This time they had a rain delay.
This introduced a problem. It was midnight. The parking deck closed at 1am. When the game resumed, it was already 12:15. Brian and Austin had to walk nearly a mile to the car. Brian was hoping for a quick top of the inning and then the Indians could bat and hopefully score quickly. It didn't work out that way. The Cubs scored 2 runs and that took time. It was already 12:30 and the top of the 10th inning wasn't even over. Brian and Austin talked and decided to walk back to the car. If the Indians got back into the game, they would park somewhere else and walk back to the ballpark. If they didn't, they would leave.
They started walking around 12:35 and got to the car around 12:50. By the time they paid parking and started to drive out of the deck, it was almost 1am. The game was over too. The Indians had lost 7-8. Brian and Austin headed home.
Austin was still super excited though. It had been an exciting night. Austin didn't want to leave the watch party to get the car. He reasoned that there were hotels downtown and they could just sleep there. Brian told him the hotels were all full and they'd have no where to go. That got Austin into a bit more of a panic. Realizing their potential plight, Austin agreed they needed to get the car. In fact, he got worried. When they got back to the deck, the one door was already locked and they had to walk around and go in the entrance where cars enter. This scared Austin a little. He was determined to make it and ran around with Brian to get in. His adrenaline was flowing and going to sleep wasn't an option on the initial drive home. Brian was half way home before Austin finally fell asleep!
The next day we got Sydney all ready for school and then Brian focused on Austin. He didn't get Austin up until 15 minutes before they had to leave and got him ready fast. Even so, he was quite tired. He did okay at school though. We certainly don't want to make a habit of it. Still, this was clearly worth it. It was a memorable night we'll never forget and Austin loved it. I kept apologizing to Austin for keeping him up so late when we were downtown. He responded once, "Why are you saying sorry. We're down here having fun! I'm glad we are here."
