It was like the Cubs to make the final game of the World Series a nail-biter for fans.

“I had never felt so nauseous in my life,” said Milan Savich, of Crown Point.

In Munster, 86-year-old Edward Anderson said he has watched a lot of Cubs games in his lifetime, and he was worried the Cubs were going to blow the game when the score was tied in Game 7 on Wednesday night.

“I died a thousand deaths last night,” Anderson said Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Rev. James L. Greanias, who leads St. Iakovos Greek Orthodox Church in Valparaiso, was calm. He said he was thinking, “I just really believe. This is different.”

Savich, Anderson and Greanias all said they erupted in cheers and tears when first baseman Anthony Rizzo caught third baseman Kris Bryant's throw for the final out in the bottom of the 10th inning Wednesday. But that doesn't mean the Cubs' first Wold Series title since 1908 has sunk in yet.

On Thursday, Cubs fans in Northwest Indiana were still trying to figure out how to react to the Cubs being World Series champs.

“None of us have been through this before,” said Rich Ramirez, of Griffith. “We don't know how to react.”

Ramirez said this World Series has felt like a holiday season, with his family getting together with food to watch the game together.

“It's like a Cubs Christmas is what it is,” Ramirez said. “I've been given one of the best gifts I've ever been given.”

Savich, 24, said that while he knows he hasn't waited as long as some die-hard fans have for the Cubs to win the World Series, it made for one of the best days of his life.

“I've daydreamed about them winning the World Series every single day since I was a little kid,” Savich said.

Anderson said he listened to radio broadcasts of the Cubs in the 1945 World Series and knows how sweet the win is for fans who have waited decades.

“Maybe it'll make up for lost time,” Anderson said, chuckling.

The 10-inning game was an “emotional roller coaster” but was played in “traditional Cubs fashion,” said Andy Maletta, of Portage.

In Game 7, the “Cubs couldn't just win it and that was it,” Ramirez said.

Instead, he said, the team essentially said, “OK, fans, we just want to remind you of everything you went through, and so we're going to blow the lead and we're going to break your heart just for a moment. And then we're going to come back and win it in a dramatic fashion.”

Maletta agreed, saying “it felt like the longest game ever in the history of baseball.”

Savich said he thinks the rain delay late in the game gave the Cubs new wind when it looked like the game would slip out of their fingers.

“I was nervous, but when they came out with that attitude, that shows why they won 103 games this year,” Savich said.

The rain was “almost like God's way of saying — I know he doesn't really care about baseball — but all that pain and heartache you've experienced as a Cubs fan your whole entire life is going to be washed away,” Ramirez said.

Before the rain came, Greanias was impressed by Bryant's slide under the Cleveland Indians' catcher to score, he said.

“I think that defined this team that always took chances,” Greanias said. “They played aggressive. They played smart. It wasn't always about the flashy plays.”

A moment that stood out to Maletta was David Ross' home run. After pitcher Jon Lester and Ross entered the game, the Cubs were scrambling, and Maletta was worried it might taint Ross' final game, he said. But the home run changed it all for the catcher, he said.

“That was the most special,” Maletta said. “That was just so cool for him.”

Thinking about the game Thursday, Savich said he was still emotional, including when he heard “Go, Cubs, Go” play over the speakers at Southlake Mall, where he works.

Maletta said he feels the same way, and he flew his “W” flag on a flagpole in the front yard of his Portage home as he relistened to Cubs radio voice Pat Hughes calling the win again.

“I don't think the smile has come off my face,” Maletta said.

Greanias joked he's worried he might have lost his “purpose in life now” that the Cubs won the World Series. He is the priest who sprinkled holy water in the Cubs dugout at Wrigley Field in 2008 to try to remove the curse of the billy goat, but with the World Series win, that service might not be required anymore.

“All that other stuff, the goats, the black cats, the lovable losers, it's all gone. It's erased now from everything moving forward,” Maletta said.

Greanias wasn't sure there was always a curse, though.

“Maybe because of being a priest, I never believed, necessarily, in curses or bad luck, but rather bad management and bad play,” Greanias said.

The Cubs tradition of looking forward to next year has new meaning now, Ramirez said.

“Last night completely changed next year,” Ramirez said. “Next year means not hope but expectation.”

While the victory was sweet, many fans thought of those who had died and weren't able to see the win.

“I thought about my friends, especially my family members who are gone,” Greanias said.

It's changed the Cubs for fans of all generations, Ramirez said. The older Cubs fans have seen the game they have dreamed of in their lifetime. The middle-aged fans are “certainly still hungry for more.” But the young Cubs fans, like Ramirez's 3-year-old son Levi, will “never know the struggle” and will know the Cubs as winners, he said.

“It's a new era in Cubs baseball,” Ramirez said.

rejacobs@post-trib.com

Twitter @ruthyjacobs