Why So Blu?

2016 World Series Champions: Chicago Cubs (Blu-ray Review)

This December, baseball fans can bring home this year’s Fall Classic with a Blu-ray release commemorating the Chicago Cubs champion run: 2016 World Series Champions: Chicago Cubs (available December 6th).  All droughts end with rain. And when the Chicago Cubs ended their 108-year World Series drought with an improbable three game run – including a dramatic Game 7 rain delay – to capture the championship, generations of Cubs fans washed away decades of disappointment, curses and superstitions. Fly the W! The Cubs are 2016 World Series champions!  This December, fly the W and celebrate the Cubs history-making run to the championship with these two ultimate mementos from one of the most exciting postseasons in a generation.

Film 

The 2016 World Series was the end of an arduous road. As the Cubs wielded dominating pitching, spectacular defense, and clutch offense to end their championship drought in dramatic fashion, generations of fans celebrated cherished memories newly washed by a championship. And it was, perhaps, even the beginning of a new kind of journey for the Cubs and their fans, as Owner Tom Ricketts and President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein collaborated to shape a staff and team that could pull off the most epic of championships.

With a powerful combination of talent and grit, Manager Joe Maddon’s cast of Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, Jake Arrieta, Dexter Fowler, Jon Lester, David Ross and World Series MVP Ben Zobrist, the Cubs outplayed the Giants and Dodgers to set up a historically dramatic World Series against the Cleveland Indians. Of course, it would come down to a Game 7 full of pulse-pounding thrills, anxiety, and excitement, as the Cubs overcame a tenacious Cleveland comeback, including a mythical rain delay, inspirational clubhouse speech, and an extra frame of baseball to crown a 103-win season with a World Series title.

While I am not, and have never been a Chicago Cubs fan, I cannot deny that they are a national phenomenon.  And EVERYONE knew about this World Series whether you were out and about, online or even hiding underneath a rock for the entire month of October.  Cubs fans are a passionate, devoted bunch, and they finally got the reward they’d accepted they’d never see ever in their lifetimes.  Its kinda funny after its happened because well, you gotta believe they’re thinking…now what?  White whale captured.  What’ the next thing?

Every day of the series my Facebook feed would just be loaded with the same damn articles, pictures, thoughts, shared by multiple people.  I know more than I ever cared to about the team, the series, you name it.  But, hey, people are excited and I’m glad they were able to experience the highest honor of fandom in baseball.  And lets be honest, its the last bright spot as joined together in this country as we may have for the next 4 years as the following week instantly brought a dark cloud over everything.

Anywho, this documentary is one that is just like the others.  If you’ve seen one sports documentary coming right after the championship, you’ve seen them all.  Except, when its your team, its the best one ever.  This focuses solely on the World Series game by game with interviews from all involved.  Somewhere out there, there was a Cleveland Indians one of these that was 3/4 of the way done, waiting for the other possible result to happen.  Unfortunately, they’ll have to wait for theirs.

Video 

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Layers: BD-50

Clarity/Detail:  As this is a sports documentary, man video sources are used in bringing it all together.  The interview footage is pretty crisp sharp and flawless.  The game footage varies, but is generally very good.  When the weather gets poorer so does the video.  But, if you watched this on TV, you know how it looked and should be fine with it.  Though, there is some new footage shot for something like this that does impress.

Depth:  Solid depth work here, especially in the field level footage for it.  The players have smooth, natural movements, with minimal blur.

Black Levels:  Blacks are deep and keep to holding their own by not masking any sort of patterns or textures.  No crushing witnessed in this viewing.

Color Reproduction:  BLUE, that’s the color that pops here.  The uniforms and shirts and such all look quite good to go with the lovely green of the grass.  The Cleveland Indians uniforms also look rather dashing.

Flesh Tones:  Skin tones are natural and are consistent throughout the feature.  Facial features like stubble, wrinkles, lip texture and the like all come through clear as day in the interview segments and fare well in the game footage as well.

Noise/Artifacts:  Clean

Audio 

Audio Format(s): English 5.1 DTS-HD MA

Subtitles: English SDH

Dynamics:  There are a lot of different audio sources plugged into the 5.1 mix.  Some come from the interviews, which are clean and crisp.  The other comes from live games and feeds from other things.  They sound fine, but should be listened with the expectation of hearing a live sportscast on TV.

Height: N/A

Low Frequency Extension: The subwoofer gets some light work, mainly with musical bumps and the lot.  There are some game sounds and moments that get a nice buffer.

Surround Sound Presentation:  You get a lot of crowd from the surround speakers in this mix.  There are some unique moments in the back, but a lot of the game action is in the front.  The back and forth action is well documented in its travels from speaker to speaker.

Dialogue Reproduction: Speakers are clear and crisp and commentators/live playing field audio sounds very good.

Extras 

2016 World Champions: Chicago Cubs is a 2-disc set that comes with the DVD edition and a digita copy of the film.

Regular Season Highlights (HD, 5:25) 

Clinching Moments (HD, 2:44) – The final plays in games that go the Cubs to the playoffs and through each round.

World Series Highlights (HD, 9:02) 

World Series Parade (HD, 2:12) – A montage of the celebration parade in Chicago, which was the 5th largest gathering of humans for an event in world history.

Cubs On David Ross (HD, 1:35) – Players discuss their thoughts on their catcher who Game 7 was his swan song.

Summary 

The Cubs are champions and you can relive the memorable World Series here in this commemorative Blu-ray.  It both looks and sounds great.  Extras are a little bit just that…extra.  Nothing too meaty there.  Though, for hue fans, you man want to shell out for Shout! Factory’s 8-disc edition that features all 7 games of the series on it as extras.  This one, though, is good for what it is and for those that aren’t going to sit and watch the full games in their entirety ever again.