WRIGLEYVILLE — Rick Pietrzak has been a Cubs fan since the 1960s, and an 81-game season-ticket holder since 1996, but he's never watched the World Series at Wrigley Field.
That will finally change Friday night, when Chicago returns home from Cleveland after Games 1 and 2 of the 2016 Fall Classic.
"I'm coming to every World Series game," Pietrzak, 61, said Saturday night after the NLCS-clinching victory against the Dodgers. "The Cubs made America great again!"
It will be the first title-series appearance since 1945 for a franchise that hasn't won it all since 1908, the longest drought in and of the four major American professional sports.
Late in Saturday's game, Pietrzak, a Schererville, Indiana, resident, turned to his wife and joked that he was going to go "out for a smoke" to relieve the tension. Then, just before the top of the ninth, he deadpanned: "I think we're going to head out and beat the traffic." After a pause, a mischievous smile crossed his face. "Just kidding."
This wasn't Pietrzak's first NLCS, and he knew better than to prematurely celebrate.
"I was here for the Bartman ball, and we finally won," Pietrzak said after the final out. "God bless America."
Pietrzak was also joined in row 9 of section 38, next to the visiting bullpen, by his son-in-law and 32-year-old daughter, Stephanie Degenais.
"I've been a Cubs fan since 1982 and we're so excited!" Degenais said.
Shortly after the game, Pietrzak turned to the person next to him and pulled something out of his wallet.
"That's for you," he said, handing over a ticket to Game 7 of the NLCS.
He didn't need it anymore. The Cubs had already won the pennant. They were going to the World Series.
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