Jackie Robinson West wins U.S. title in Little League World Series

Jackie Robinson West advances to World Series Championship

The Jackie Robinson West Little League team has captured the hearts of Chicago and the country by battling their way to the World Series where they will face off against South Korea.

Saturday afternoon, JRW defeated the Mountain Ridge team from Las Vegas, Nevada, 7-5, with an exciting double play in a rematch from an earlier game in which they lost. That first loss sent JRW to the losers bracket, which makes their victory that much sweeter.

Even the teams coach, Darold Butler, foreshadowed this win when he told DNAinfo Chicago, “We’ll just come out of the losers’ bracket and win the whole thing that way.”

Some might say he’s cocky in that statement, but Butler knows his team, and he knows how important JRW’s journey is on a larger scale.

Part of the beauty of that journey is the homage it pays to the organization’s namesake, Jackie Robinson, whose legacy in baseball is triumphant and transformative.

JRW has also lent to a sense of pride for the City of Chicago, where stories of violence often lead the evening news. The city has rallied around this team, irrespective of race and economics, with watch parties and monitors tuned in from Jackie Robinson Field on the far south side, to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field on the north side, and a large setup downtown outside of the Chicago Theatre.

People all over the country are watching these young men and it feels good. It feels right. It feels necessary.

The World Series final game between Jackie Robinson West and South Korea will be played today, Sunday, at 3 PM ET on ABC.

Go, West!

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