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!
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.
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.
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 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.
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!
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