Every year, Sportscentre lists the Top 10 stories of the year from around the sports world. Below is the list for 2016.

10. March to the Postseason

After a decade as Major League Soccer’s laughingstock, Toronto FC emerged as the force in the league its fervent supporters hoped for all these years. Led by captain Michael Bradley, the 2015 MLS MVP Sebastian Giovinco and a resurgent Jozy Altidore, the team won its first playoff game in team history when it dispatched the Philadelphia Union. The Reds then advanced the Eastern Conference finals after crushing the top team in the East, New York City FC, 7-0 on aggregate. Then, when given the chance to avenge last season’s embarrassing maiden voyage to the playoffs in the East final, Toronto FC did so in thrilling fashion. After falling behind 3-0 in the first leg to their archrival Montreal Impact, two late goals brought the tie to 3-2 heading back home to Toronto for the return leg. What followed was arguably one of the best games in league history that saw the Reds victorious in an electrifying 5-2 extra-time contest to send TFC to the MLS Cup. But it was there that the all-familiar heartbreak returned. In front of a raucous BMO Field crowd, the Reds fell 0-0 (5-4 on penalties) to the Seattle Sounders in the final, unable to complete the storybook season. Still, the table is set for the club to become a consistent force in MLS going forward.

9: A Super Farewell: Peyton Manning goes out on top

Peyton Manning had recaptured his job from Brock Osweiler and the stage was set for the legend to go out on top. That the Denver Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers 24-10 in Super Bowl 50 based largely off the power of their defence will mostly be forgotten when Manning’s story is told. One of the greatest quarterback’s ever hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy at the end of his illustrious career, marking the second Super Bowl win in his career and helping to erase the notion Manning couldn’t win the big games.

8. Raptors’ Run

In recent seasons, the Toronto Raptors returned to relevance, but had naught to show for it when it came to postseason success. In 2014 following a surprise second-half surge and Atlantic Division title,  general manager Masai Ujiri famously threw down the gauntlet at first-round opposition Brooklyn, but the Raptors fell in seven games to the wily veteran Nets. Though another Atlantic title came in 2015, the Raptors’ playoff run that spring was one to forget with the team getting completely outclassed in an embarrassing sweep by the Washington Wizards. But the breakthrough came in 2016. After a third straight division title and the most wins in franchise history (54), the Raptors dispatched the Paul George and the pesky Indiana Pacers in seven games in the first round. It was the club’s first ever seven-game series victory and the first series win since 2001. In the next round, the Raps came out victorious – again in seven games – in a war of attrition with Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat as reserve centre Bismack Biyombo emerged as a talisman and crowd favourite. LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers would prove too high a mountain to climb, though, as the Raptors fought valiantly, but were ultimately eliminated from the Eastern Conference Finals by the eventual NBA Champions. Even still, the Raptors’ postseason success made believers out of Canadians across the country.

7: The Kid is Alright: Sid’s incredible run

With the latest Phenom in the sport, Connor McDavid, in his first season in the league, Sidney Crosby reasserted himself as the top player with an outstanding calendar year. Crosby finished second to Patrick Kane in the Hart Trophy voting last season, but led the Penguins to a Stanley Cup victory and captured the Conn Smythe on the way in the playoffs. He carried that momentum into the off-season in helping Team Canada capture the World Cup of Hockey, where he was named the tournament’s MVP. And he’s off to a flying start in this season, leading the league in goals and placing in the Top 5 in points, despite missing the start of the year recovering from a concussion.

6: The Upset: The Redblacks defeat the Stampeders to win the 104th Grey Cup

The Stampeders entered the Grey Cup the heavy favourites to cap off a near-historic season with a championship; the Redblacks had other plans. An ominous start for Henry Burris led to a memorable performance. The 41-year-old injured his knee in warmups and was a question mark to start right up until kickoff. After some medical attention Burris told his team he was good to go; was he ever. Burris threw for 461 yards and three touchdowns in leading Ottawa to a huge upset win in overtime, 39-33, over the Stampeders to capture the championship. His courageous performance earned him Grey Cup MVP honours.

5. The King Reigns

Though the prodigal son from Akron returned to Cleveland in 2014, it was in 2016 that LeBron James’ redemption would be fully achieved. After four seasons with the Miami Heat, James returned with a mission to bring a title back to a city starved for a winner for 52 years and counting. They came close in 2015 with the Cavs reaching the NBA Finals, but falling in seven games to the Golden State Warriors. The Cavs wouldn’t be denied in 2016, though. James and the Cavs rolled through the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks in the first two rounds unblemished in sweeps. It was Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Toronto Raptors in which the Cavs would taste defeat for the first time in the postseason. Though the Raptors put a scare into Cleveland by evening the series at 2-2, the Cavs would win the next two games and advance to another date with the 73-win Warriors in the Finals. It was supposed to be just like this – with the Cavs preordained as the Eastern Conference cannon fodder that would put up little resistance to the juggernaut Warriors and a second straight title. Everything went to script with the Warriors opening up a 3-1 lead. But James had other plans. The Cavs would win the next three games capped off by LeBron’s stunning blocked of Andre Iguodala in Game 7. The prodigal son had returned, but now he was home.

4. Triple-Triple: Usain Bolt three-peats as gold medal winner in the 100M, 200M, and relay at the Rio Olympics

Embedded ImageThe world’s fastest man proved he has staying power with a third-straight dominant Olympics performance. In the Games’ marquee events, Bolt continued to shine under the brightest spotlight winning his seventh, eighth, and ninth gold medals of his illustrious sprinting career. Bolt’s times weren’t quite as good as his previous record-setting paces, but the Jamaican finished atop the podium in the 100 metre dash (9.81), 200 metre dash (19.78), and 4X100 metre relay, alongside Asafa Powell, Yohan Blake, and Nickel Ashmeade.

3. Improbable Title

Leicester City needed a draw in its second to last game of the 2014-2015 English Premier League season to ensure survival and avoid relegation. So it only stood to reason that Claudio Ranieri’s Foxes would open the 2015-16 campaign as 5000-to-1 underdogs to win the EPL title. It was a bet that few would actually take and even those brave enough to back the nearly impossible couldn’t believe what would unfold over the course of the season. Led by goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, defensive stalwart Wes Morgan, midfield linchpin N’Golo Kante, 24-goal scorer Jamie Vardy and the PFA Player of the Year, Riyad Mahrez, the Foxes broke up the domination of the traditional powers, leaving the likes of moneybags United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal in their wake. The title was the team’s very first in their 100-year history.

2. Golden Girl: Penny Oleksiak wins four medals at the Rio Olympics

Embedded ImageA star is born at every Olympics and this past summer in Brazil it was Canadian swimmer Penny Oleksiak. Oleksiak became a household name on her way to capturing four medals, including a Gold in the 100 metre freestyle. Oleksiak also captured a silver in the 100 metre butterfly, and bronzes in the women’s freestyle relays (4X100 metre and 4X200 metre), all at just 16-years-old. Oleksiak capped her breakout year by winning the Lou Marsh Trophy as the country’s top athlete.

1. Cubs Win, Cubs Win

Loveable losers, no more. In a year filled with monumental ups and downs, it was only fitting that pro sportrs’ most infamous futility streak would come to an end. The Chicago Cubs’ 2016 season got off to an auspicious start by losing Kyle Schwarber for the season in only the team’s third game with a torn ACL, but they would not slow down or be stopped. Led by baseball’s best rotation with Jake Arrieta at its heart, Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant in an MVP season, the team hit the All-Star break at 53-35 with a seven-game lead on the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central. Adding fireballer Aroldis Chapman at the deadline, the Cubs were the first team in the league to clinch a playoff spot, winning the division on September 15. They would finish the season at 103-58, the game’s best record. Joe Maddon’s proved immune to the San Francisco Giants’ even-year playoff magic in the NLDS in four games and needed six games to dispatch the Los Angeles Dodgers to reach their first World Series since 1945 against the Cleveland Indians. What happened next was the type of series required to exorcize a century-old curse. The Cubs’ vaunted bats – even with an improbably returning Schwarber – went quiet, scoring only seven runs in the first four games and the team headed into Game 5 down 3-1 in the series. But it seemed that all of Cleveland’s playoff magic ran out with the Cavs as the Cubs stormed back to the next three games, capped off by an extra-innings, rain-delayed Game 7 of legend that saw an 8-7 win in 10. As Bryant went to field Michael Martinez’s roller for the game’s final out, the third baseman had already broken into jubilant laughter. For the first time since 1908, the Cubs were World Series Champions. In 2004, GM Theo Epstein slayed the Curse of the Bambino. Twelve years later, the Curse of the Billy Goat fell at his hand, too.