The first World Series victory in 108 years for the Chicago Cubs wouldn’t be complete without a beautiful bit of branded content.
Nike was quick to air a minute-long commercial to celebrate the Cubs’ Game 7 extra-innings victory just minutes after Kris Bryant fielded the final out of the 8-7 win to give Chicago a World Series title for the first time in more than a century.
Entitled “Someday,” the piece starts with a young boy narrating his own World Series triumph in a Cubs hat and jersey on a diamond somewhere in Chicago.
A version of Billy Walker’s classic Funny How Time Slips Away plays while the boy pretends to play for the Cubs—diving back into second base and chasing down fly balls he throws up into the air for him to catch. A second audio track then brings in a walk-off home run call from Cubs broadcasting legend Harry Caray.
“Goodbye Someday,” the piece says as the Cubs fan celebrates a championship-clinching home run alone at home plate.
The Cubs didn’t win on a walk off, of course, but the series was full of plenty of drama. Wednesday’s Game 7 alone featured the first ever leadoff home run in Game 7 history, the oldest player to hit a home run in a Game 7 and the latest game-tying home run in Game 7 history. That’s a lot of history, even before the Cubs won it all.
This World Series only gave Cleveland Indians fans more misery in their storied title drought. It also means there’s an unaired Cleveland-centric commercial celebrating a Tribe victory that never came on Wednesday. I hope Nike paid the actor from Cleveland the same but, for Cubs fans, “someday” is finally today.
