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Cubs' Front Office Was Plenty Superstitious During Championship Run

(CBS) Amid their 2016 journey to a championship, members of the Cubs organization -- from the front office to manager Joe Maddon to players -- downplayed any curse talk time and again.

"Things are going to happen," left-hander Jon Lester said before Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. "That is just baseball. That doesn't mean it's a curse, black cat or a goat. It is just making a physical mistake. We will move on to the next moment."

While that was the mindset, it didn't mean the Cubs' front office wasn't superstitious. Because they most certainly were throughout a heart-pounding playoff run that included a wild Game 4 comeback in the National League Divisional Series, a rally from a 2-1 deficit in the NLCS and a rally from a 3-1 deficit in the World Series.

During a Game 5 win against the Indians in the World Series, president of baseball operations Theo Epstein had cake delivered early in the game and more or less forced the fellow front office members to eat it. Shortly after, the Cubs authored a three-run fourth inning that paved the way for a narrow 3-2 win.

So for Game 6 and Game 7 in Cleveland, what did Epstein do? He had cake shipped in from Pittsburgh, which is a couple hours away.

"It worked," Epstein said in an interview with Matt Spiegel and Jon Greenberg on 670 The Score on Tuesday morning. "It was ridiculous in the postseason. Yeah, every time (it worked). Before the (Kris) Bryant homer (in Game 5), we hadn't hit at all. That inning, we ordered a bunch of cake, and everyone ate cake, and next thing you know, Bryant hits a bomb, four straight guys reach and we scored three runs and won that game.

"So we had cakes driven in (in the final two World Series games). Actually, the closest Levy's facility -- the company that makes the cakes -- was in Pittsburgh, so someone drove like eight cakes from Pittsburgh to Cleveland and we had them pregame before Game 6 and Game 7 trying to get runs in the first inning, and we scored in both first innings. So it worked well."

A day after winning the championship, Cubs front office members reported to the office Thursday and then brought the title run full circle by eating goat.

"It struck me that it would be appropriate to eat some goat," Epstein said.

"If you're superstitious, it's a cool way to formally end the curse. If you're not, it's just a real tasty meal."

Epstein cherished the goofiness.

"The best part of working in baseball is you work shoulder to shoulder with people you believe in," Epstein said. "And you fail most of the time. Most of the time, you don't win your last game of the year, but you still make it fun. But when you do win your last game of the year, you better have an absolute blast and ring every ounce of fun out of it. I feel like we did a pretty good job of that this weekend."

Listen to Epstein's full interview below.

Theo Epstein on the Spiegel and Goff Show

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