Fighter (Anthony Rizzo)

Glass Case of Emotions

Anthony

Game seven. That's American slang for heart attack. While Cam is still getting stronger, I still worry that all this is too much for her. I can't help it. And since she insisted on coming I demanded that she were to be with my parents the whole time. I didn't want anything to happen but if we win I want her to be the first thing I see.

We sit in the dugout before the game and wait for the starting line ups. I look around as the boys carry on like they always do. You would have never guessed that this is the biggest game sod their lives.

"Hear that it's supposed to rain" Jake asks sitting next to me.

"Yeah... every drought ends with rain" I remind him and he laughs.

"Okay Tony, you got me there" he replies patting my back and walking away. I focus in on the game and get ready to make history.

The first inning goes great. Dexter starts us off with a home run and Kris had a single. I follow up with a double and this game was already 2-0 in our favor. Once we change to defense Hendricks throws me a perfect pick to end the inning after allowing a single and we were feeling good.

"I can't control myself right now. I'm trying my best" I explain to David as he chills with Tommy watching the top of the order bat.

"Understandably so buddy" he laughs.

"I'm emotional."

"I hear ya."

"I'm a emotional. I'm a emotional wreck."

"Well it's only going to get worse. Just continue to breath. That's all you can do buddy" he claims.

"It's only going to get worse" Tommy repeats just laughing.

"It's only going to get worse" David assures me. Some how this was supposed to be helping.

"I'm in a glass case of emotions right now" I reiterate and Tommy just loses it. Poor David, he's been through this before and now he has to deal with me. As the game goes along the offense continues. Willy brings one in with a double and Javy makes up for his error with a solo home run. Kyle gets taken out and I think we were all a little skeptical of that but we trust Joe. After a weird series of events Jon finds his touch and finishes up the inning.

"You good Grandpa" I ask David as we get back to the dugout. Old man got rocked pretty hard.

"Yeah I'm good. Just need to get those runs back" he says and I leave him be. I'll be damned if David Freaking Ross wasn't the oldest guy to hit a home run in game seven of the World Series. That's how you get that run back. Sadly the momentum changes when they hit a two run bomb and ties the game up at 6. After a scoreless ninth the tarp comes out and we're kinda thankful. Slows the game down for us.

"Players meeting. Weight room. Now" Jason demands and we follow him. We always follow him.

"Listen guys. I know it's hard, but if there's ever a time to do something, it's now. Don't beat yourself up because I don't know if you've noticed this, but this game isn't over, far from it. I don't want to see tears unless you're hurt. And I'm not leaving here without a ring" he says. I turn to see Addi with tears in his eyes and Chapman has tears staining his face. What happened, it sucks. But it's not over.

"Jason is right guys. It's 0-0 now and at the end of the day the better team is going to prevail. We need to go out there and prove that we're the better team" I remind them.

"I want everyone to look at me. We're all here, at game seven of the World Series, for a reason. And that reason is because each and every one of you brought something to this team. It hurts now but it will feel that much better when we win. We can't change what happened. But we have to go out there and make history tonight. So wipe your eyes and get rid of anything negative. That's not going to help. It's on us to win this game. Keep your head up and keep fighting. Lets go" he cheers and we all join him. We emerge from the dugout and I find Camilla in the crowd. What I would do to talk to her right now. She sends me a smile and that is enough for me to know that I got this. The tarp comes off and we were ready.

Kyle leads off with a single and is lifted for a runner. He's already done so much for us this season even though he didn't have to. Almora moves up on Kris' fly out and I'm intentionally walked to fill the empty first base. After Ben takes two good pitches he calls for time. I can tell he was frustrated but he did this last year, he'll figure it out. Next pitch he sees is a ground ball double, Almora scores and I end up on third. I throw my hands on my helmet and let out a huge breath.

"Oh my god" I whisper as I watch Ben celebrate on second. It's not over but it finally started. Miggy singles me home and we head to the bottom of the tenth looking to end this. After letting one run in with two outs Mike Montgomery is called upon for his first save ever. He gets the batter to ground to Kris and he attacks the ball. It felt like it was all in slow motion. He scoops up the ball with a smile and launches it my way. His foot slips but I couldn't tell because I had to make sure I catch the ball. After I did I look to see Kris jump from the ground as I caught the last out of the World Series from my best friend. We meet in the middle as the team floods from the bull pen and the dugout.

"Holy shit" I scream and David finds me.

"We did it! Proud of you" he yells and I pull him into a hug. I was seriously going miss him. As the rain picks up the families are let onto the field and I finally find who I was looking for. Camilla was looking around in my jersey.

"Cammy" I yell and she quickly finds my voice. She runs over and jumps into my arms as I spin her around.

"Anthony, you were great" she giggles as I set her down. I grab her face and kiss those perfect pink lips.

"I love you so much" I remind her.

"I love too Anthony" she says with a smile. I take her under my arms and we make our way around congratulating everyone before heading to the locker room. There we partied until we could party no more. No one really cares much about anything. All we knew was that we were World Series champions.