'Like I was in a movie': MLBers share feeling of winning World Series

This is a collection of stories about what it's like to be a player for the final out of the World Series, sharing three of the most unique experiences from recent years.

TORONTO - Kyle Schwarber watched the final out of Game 5 of the 2016 NLCS at a Chili's in Arizona.

A couple days later, he was playing in the World Series.

Schwarber tore his ACL in the second game of the 2016 regular season for the Chicago Cubs. He was preparing for winter ball when he got the news that would change his life. In the back of his mind, he'd always believed that if his rehab continued to go well, he would have a shot at returning for the postseason - but realistically, that was wishful thinking.

So when doctors cleared Schwarber in early October, and he found himself on a plane to rehab in the Arizona Fall League, he couldn't believe it. After his night at Chili's, Schwarber watched the series-clinching Game 6 between at-bats during one of his rehab games.

"I didn't even pay attention to the fall league game, just watched the iPad in the dugout," Schwarber told theScore. "I'm just sitting there watching the NLCS and no one's talking to me. I finished up the game, and the training staff and some strength coaches had some champagne bottles that we popped for a little celebration."

After the mini celebration, Schwarber got a text from then-Cubs president Theo Epstein. Chicago was going to add Schwarber to the World Series roster. The team sent a private plane to Arizona to pick him up.

"That was surreal," Schwarber said. "They said, 'Get your stuff packed and call your family to come up.' That was insane. I had what felt like a six-and-a-half hour flight, just being in my head the whole time thinking about what's going on. I'm about to face Corey Kluber.

"I didn't feel like they were going to put me on (the roster), just from the quality of the at-bats and where I was at in the fall league. I was literally just jogging to first base. You just think of all these different possibilities in your head. What happens if I suck? What happens if I'm getting embarrassed up there? I was just like, 'I gotta make it through the first at-bat.'"

Schwarber didn't suck. He never got embarrassed. In fact, he was an offensive force during the World Series, going 7-for-17 and helping lead the franchise to its first championship in 108 years.

He went 3-for-5 in Game 7 in Cleveland, but he watched the end of the game from the dugout after being lifted for a pinch runner in the 10th inning.

"As soon as you come out of the game, versus when you're in the game, it's a different feeling," Schwarber said. "There's no control anymore. I'm just being a nervous wreck.

"Me and Jon Lester were pacing back and forth, kind of bouncing questions, like, 'What's the best pitch here? What are we going to throw them?' And then it's over, and all that goes away. It's just pure pandemonium."

Kris Bryant gathered a slow grounder and slipped on the throw, but he still managed to fire the ball across the diamond to Anthony Rizzo. The Cubs had done it. The curse was broken.

"One of the most dramatic last outs ever," Schwarber said. "His foot slips when he goes to throw, and then you see the ball, and it looks like it's coming high out of his hand, and I'm like, 'Oh no.' And then it hits chest high on Rizzo, and it's over."

While Schwarber recalls the chaos, what Jason Heyward remembers most is the momentary silence at Progressive Field.

"The only person talking was probably the commentator," Heyward said. "I'm going to back up the throw and Rizzo catches it. It was still, like quiet again for a brief second, everybody held their breath to see. And then it was however many Cubs fans over there - I mean, had to be at least, like, 20,000 - yell in elation."

'It felt like I was in a movie'

Thirteen years into his MLB career, Justin Verlander was finally about to reach the summit.

Verlander had started Game 6 of the World Series the day before. In Game 7, he was in the Dodger Stadium bullpen in case of emergency, standing next to Lance McCullers Jr. with his spikes on.

Pressed up against the fence, Verlander was relegated to spectator status as Charlie Morton delivered the final 12 outs that secured the 2017 World Series for the Houston Astros.

It was time to run onto the field.

"Honestly, it felt like I was in a movie," Verlander told theScore. "It felt like I was floating. I just couldn't wait to get to the pile and celebrate. My view is a packed stadium, and I'm running to celebrate winning it all. It's just surreal."

Verlander had waited his whole life to realize that dream. But there wasn't much time to soak it in: Another ring was waiting.

Verlander skipped the parade and hopped on a plane to Italy to get married. In the months before the World Series, Verlander had been making wedding arrangements. For most of that time, he was a member of the Detroit Tigers, and the postseason wasn't on his mind. He agreed to the trade to Houston on Aug. 31. Still, he and his wife, Kate Upton, were able to make it work.

"We celebrated, and then I hopped on a plane the very next morning and flew straight to Italy," Verlander said. "Before we played Game 7, a lot of our friends were already at our wedding venue FaceTiming me saying, 'Hey, good luck. Your wedding's great, we're having a great time.'

"One of the parties already happened, and then some of the guests stayed up super late and watched (Game 7)."

Just a few feet in front of Verlander in the visiting bullpen, George Springer was patrolling right field.

"The last nine outs felt like two days," Springer recalled. "I was counting outs, hoping the ball gets hit to me, but also, you kind of don't want to screw it up. I just remember pacing around the outfield. I was probably 15 or 20 feet out of position."

Morton induced a grounder to second base for the final out. Springer was on his way to meet Verlander and the rest of the group at the mound. The rest was a blur.

"I'm pretty sure I was probably supposed to go back up first base," Springer joked. "That's kind of all I remember, is I remember that I don't really remember."

The Astros were all racing to get to Morton, who'd just delivered an epic performance out of the bullpen on two days' rest. The veteran right-hander admitted he wasn't expecting to pitch in Game 7 until A.J. Hinch approached him beforehand and said he'd be needed at some point.

"Running in from the bullpen at Dodger Stadium for Game 7 of the World Series was surreal," Morton said of when he took the mound.

Morton hadn't pitched in relief since 2008. He expected to air out his best stuff for one inning. But the more he pitched, the better he got, and Hinch kept rolling with the hot hand. Morton retired Corey Seager to end the game.

"I turned around and I'm looking for (catcher) Brian McCann. I don't know where he is, and then he comes flying in and jumping on me," Morton said. "I just remember getting involved in the scrum, then I got punched in the face."

'We've still never celebrated'

Justin Turner was six outs away from winning his first World Series in 2020 when the unimaginable happened.

A member of the Los Angeles Dodgers' training staff pulled Turner from the dugout at Globe Life Field and told him president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman needed to speak with him. Turner had tested positive for COVID-19. Not only was he forced to leave Game 6 against the Tampa Bay Rays, but he had to isolate immediately.

"They took me off the field and into a doctor's office somewhere in the back of the stadium," Turner told theScore. "I had to watch the last two innings on a TV - not even with the normal game feed, I had to watch it from the bird's-eye view."

Turner had waited 13 years for that moment, and he'd been part of two Dodgers teams that had fallen just short of the title in recent seasons. He couldn't believe what was happening. He understood the severity of the illness that shut down baseball for months, but he felt fine.

As the Dodgers recorded the final out to win the franchise's first World Series since 1988, Turner and his wife Kourtney, who'd also been pulled from her seat, watched it alone together.

"It was an emotional time," Turner said. "Obviously, excited that we were able to accomplish something that we hadn't accomplished yet with the Dodgers. But at the same time, it was pretty disappointing and sad that I wasn't able to be out there.

"When you see the pitch, you hear the stadium react, you see everyone run on the field, and it was just, you know, waterworks for me and my wife sitting in the room."

Joc Pederson remembers the confusion of seeing Turner pulled from the game.

"It kind of set everyone off and it was really strange," Pederson said. "It created this weird dynamic."

The World Series was played in a bubble in Texas, a neutral site. Some fans were permitted to attend, but players and personnel still underwent regular COVID screening. The Dodgers weren't allowed to celebrate with champagne after winning and were immediately tested when they returned to their hotel after the game. The team took two planes back to Los Angeles after the series, though not everyone went together.

"It was like a Navy SEAL team," Pederson said. "We went in, just got a mission, and then everyone went their separate ways."

Turner was desperate for any way to celebrate. He asked if he and his wife could go out and get a picture, "so we have something that shows we're a part of it."

Somewhat controversially at the time, Turner got to the field, and when he arrived, his teammates made sure he was included in the championship photo. After the picture was taken, he was sent back into isolation. He showered and left the stadium in a separate car. The Turners then made the 21-hour drive from Arlington back to Los Angeles on their own.

Pederson was lucky enough to enjoy the conventional experience of being a World Series champion the following season with the Atlanta Braves, capturing the second title of his career.

"The excitement of a full stadium, the excitement of a parade, the excitement of all that, it's not even comparable," Pederson said. "The Braves experience are some of my best memories. With the parade, it's like a 72-hour party."

The Dodgers never got their parade.

"We've still never celebrated that World Series," Pederson said. "L.A. is an amazing place, and that's definitely something you would have wanted to embrace with the fans."

Five years and five teams later, Turner is still chasing that moment.

"It's something that I think drives me to keep going and want to win another championship so bad, so I can experience that feeling, whether it's running from my position or running from the dugout," Turner said.