Of course Todd Kipnis remembers the pitch. Vividly. How could he not?
World Series Game 7. Tie game. Bottom of the ninth. And there was his little brother, Jason, in the Progressive Field batter's box.
He can still feel it now -- the swing, the contact, the brief moment of fantastic anticipation. As Aroldis Chapman's 85-mph slider caught the meat of the plate, belt-high, Jason ripped at it.
It's the moment that -- due to broadcast optics -- sent pounding hearts into throats and the stomachs of Cubs fans into their shoes.
It's the moment that appeared to ruin a Cubs fairy tale in the cruelest way.
It's the moment that Todd Kipnis, from a couch in his Colorado apartment, believed his little brother had made perhaps the most legendary swing in Major League Baseball history.
"As soon as it hit the bat," Todd said, "I was in the air kicking and screaming. I've seen Jason swing maybe more than anyone else alive. I was convinced it was gone."
For 4.1 seconds.
That's how long it took from the time Jason swung until the ball landed -- harmlessly foul, two rows into the right-field stands and about 30 feet short of the foul pole.
Nope, the World Series had not just ended, with a scrappy second baseman from Northbrook, Ill., tormenting a city he loves with a soul-crushing home run for the Indians. Instead, more baseball would be needed to finish off an unusual 12-day stretch for the entire Kipnis family, a clan of devoted Cubs fans who in late October and early November had to abandon its allegiance at the height of its exhilaration.
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On the night the Cubs clinched the National League pennant for the first time in 71 years, Blair Kipnis was a block south of Wrigley Field, hanging with friends at Deuce's and the Diamond Club. Since he was old enough to lift a bat, Blair had been all in on the Cubs, mesmerized by Ryne Sandberg and Mark Grace, Sammy Sosa and Kerry Wood and hopeful to see his favorite team find its holy grail.
Yet the instant last season's National League Championship Series ended _ with a 6-4-3 double play sealing the Cubs' 5-0 victory over the Dodgers _ Blair knew he was out. Three days earlier, brother Jason and the Indians had finalized their World Series plans.
"We were going nuts that the Cubs were going to the World Series," Blair said. "Then I told all my friends, 'Hey, this was fun. But this was my last night being a Cubs fan this season.' "
Amanda Kipnis, a special education teacher in California, walked the tightrope for as long as she could, balancing her dual fandom. When the Indians clinched the AL pennant Oct. 19 in Toronto, she was actually in the car heading to Los Angeles for Game 4 of the NLCS. "I had my Kris Bryant jersey on," she said, "over my 'Kipnis for President' T-shirt."
So when the Cubs-Indians collision became reality, it felt magical and odd. "I thought it was going to be so hard to cheer against the Cubs," Amanda, 36, said. "It wasn't. I got angry every time they got a hit."
For Todd, 32, the detachment wasn't so simple. Sure, he loved Jason and wanted nothing but the best for his brother. But this was the Cubs. This was nearly three decades of unwavering devotion.
"I struggled with it all the way up until game time of Game 1," Todd said. "I felt like I was truly going to be torn on which way to pull. But as soon as that first pitch was thrown, internally I knew. It was Indians all the way."
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What followed were two weeks full of vim with unending anticipation for what was next.
Before Game 1, Amanda spent most of the day at her Cleveland hotel, a bundle of nervous energy. She left only for a quick walk to lunch before eventually relocating to a Progressive Field suite.
"I still think I hit 18,000 steps that day," she said. "All within a 15-foot radius of that (luxury) box."
Amanda attended the first five World Series games.
Blair, 34, made it to all seven with his parents, Mark and Kay, driving through the wee hours after Games 2 and 7 in Cleveland to return to work at his downtown law firm. Todd attended only the middle three contests at Wrigley, having recently begun a new sales job near Denver.
Still, that put the Kipnis family together for their most magical moment in Jason's stellar career _ the Game 4 homer that punctuated a 7-2 Indians win. With the Indians ahead 2-1 in the series and leading 4-1 in the seventh inning, Kipnis met a pitch from Travis Wood and blasted it high into the night.
Right on contact, from directly behind the plate, the Kipnises uncorked a boisterous group hug in a stadium that didn't share their euphoria.
"I remember the quiet," Todd said. "In the World Series, with that unbelievable fan base, for Wrigley to be that quiet, it was stunning."
Added Amanda: "It gave me the chills. No one would say the 'C word' _ the curse. But it was on everyone's mind. And it was the first time in my life I was praying for it to be real."
When that Indians' victory was complete, moving them a win away from their first World Series title since 1948, Jason joined Fox's Ken Rosenthal for a postgame interview. When asked if he could imagine winning the World Series at a legendary ballpark he visited often while growing up, Jason paused.
"I'm starting to (imagine it)," he said. "I'm starting to."
The Indians didn't win again.
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As cruel as it would have been to Cubs fans if Jason Kipnis had crushed their dreams, this winter was frequently harsh for the Indians second baseman himself. Jason always spends his offseasons in Chicago, close to family and friends. Only this year, he was far more recognizable whenever he left his River North neighborhood apartment.
Rarely did a day go by when his workouts at the East Bank Club didn't take him past other gym patrons wearing Cubs World Series gear.
His Facebook feed, at least through November and December, was a constant stream of Cubs celebration -- photo albums and articles and videos posted by countless friends and acquaintances from childhood.
"I can't imagine coming down from that high and then every time you step out your door, there's a 'W' flag staring you in the face," Amanda said. "It was inescapable."
Then came the ultimate sneer. Well before spring training in 2016, Blair had gotten engaged, setting his wedding date for Jan. 14 at the InterContinental downtown. Jason, of course, would have the honor as a best man.
Yet when it came time for the wedding party to take photos along Michigan Avenue, the Kipnises realized they were sharing the joy of that afternoon and that strip of the Magnificent Mile with, of all things, the Cubs Convention. That brought a stream of well-wishers and trolls alike, all insistent on emphasizing the World Series result.
Said Blair: "There was a lot of 'Go Cubs!' coming at us. And a lot of Jason shouting back: 'Keep walking! I'm not doing this today!'
"I had never planned to put him in that line of fire."
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As joyful as Jason's Game 4 homer was, the Kipnis siblings all agree the World Series moment that exhilarated them most was their younger brother's fifth-inning run in Game 7.
Jason reached on a two-out dribbler, safe only after David Ross' throw went wayward and only after Kipnis ran square into the 220-pound brick wall known as Anthony Rizzo.
Moments later, with Carlos Santana on third and Kipnis at second, the Indians' 5-1 deficit became 5-3 on a wild pitch. As Jon Lester's pitch ricocheted from the dirt off Ross' mask and toward the Cubs dugout, Kipnis bolted. With cheeks puffing, he rounded third, barreled home and dived under Lester's tag.
"Here he comes like a bat out of hell," Blair said. "It was just pure hustle, will and preparedness."
Added Todd: "That's the epitome of who Jason is."
So when the ninth rolled around, who could blame the Kipnises for believing the baseball gods would reward that hustle? As the Indians' three-run, tying eighth-inning rally was unfolding, all the guests in Jason's Progressive Field suite began doing lineup calculations to forecast whether he'd get a potential series-ending at bat in the ninth.
The names of Joe Carter and Kirk Gibson entered the conversation.
"You start thinking about these legendary hits in World Series history," Blair said. "And then you start envisioning Jason coming to bat in a situation that could dwarf even those."
Then, as fate would have it, with one out in the ninth, there was Jason in the batter's box and Chapman's 1-1 slider whistling in.
More than 2,400 miles southwest, Amanda couldn't watch. Inside her San Diego townhome, the stakes and the possibilities overwhelmed her. So she left her two friends by the TV and retreated to the dining room.
"Just gripping the dining-room chair," Amanda said.
Then she heard the crack of the bat. "My two friends jumped up and yelled 'Go!' And my legs buckled. I dropped. I've never had that happen before."
She, too, thought her little brother had become a hero for eternity. For 4.1 seconds.
Then the living room groan delivered the reality.
Jason has been asked about that swing enough in the four months since that he understands the brief panic attack it caused across Chicago. Even Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer admits his heart sank.
"If you were me or the catcher, you knew that that had a lot of English on it," Jason told WMVP-AM 1000 in January. "It was heading foul almost off the bat."
Four pitches later, though, Jason went down swinging. An inning later so did the Indians.
The Cubs won it all and the Kipnises were left dizzy.
"We weren't going to be marching in any Cubs parades, I can tell you that," Blair said. "We were cheering 100 percent for the Indians. It wasn't 60-40.
"Still, once it was done it was done. And you definitely appreciate what this meant to all Cubs fans. Because it was something you had wanted yourself for such a long time."
Amanda had greater difficulty accepting the Cubs as World Series champions, needing "at least two weeks to get my life back in order." When Bryant threw to Rizzo for the final out, she felt numb. Then she lost it. For hours.
"I had always figured I would cry when the Cubs won it all. But I thought they'd be tears of joy.
"Instead, it was like a dream had died."
That Cubs fleece Jason bought Amanda a few years back? She hasn't worn it since September. The "W" flag she once hung outside her classroom? "I did not bring it out this year," she said. "Couldn't."
Now the Kipnises wrestle with the possibilities for the future. If a Cubs-Indians collision were to occur in the World Series again this fall, would they be able to handle it?
"Oh, dear God!" Amanda gasped. "I'm still recovering from the last one."
After last year, Todd said, he'd probably prefer Indians-Padres. But look, they're not picky.
Said Amanda: "If it means Jason being back in the World Series, then hell, yes. I hate to bring Ernie Banks into all this. But why not? Let's play two!"
