It is a chilly night at Wrigley Field in October of 2003. The Chicago Cubs lead the Florida Marlins 3-0 in game six of the National League Championship Series. Mark Prior, starting pitcher for the Cubs, is throwing a gem. He has allowed only four hits through seven and a third shutout innings.
The Cubs are five outs away from their first World Series appearance since 1945 and the home crowd feels it. An end to the decades of losing is finally in sight. The atmosphere is electric.
Prior delivers a full-count pitch to Marlins’s second baseman Luis Castillo. Castillo fights it off and skies a foul ball down the left-field line. Veteran outfielder Moises Alou tracks the pop up as it heads toward the stands. He approaches the wall in foul territory and times his jump perfectly. The ball should have landed securely in his glove for the second out of the inning. Only it did not.
In what is now one of the most infamous moments in Cubs history, Steve Bartman, a fan sitting next to the field, tries to catch the ball. His interference prevents Alou from making a play and the ball ends up in the stands, safely foul. The Marlins would go on to score eight runs, win the game and the next day, win the series.
This moment is one of the most salient sports memories of my childhood. Even as an 8-year-old, I felt the heartbreak that comes with being a Cubs fan. Bartman's miscue was just another calamity in the long line of incidents that have haunted the franchise; another roadblock fans can attribute to the Curse of the Billy Goat; another sign the universe does not want the Cubs to win.
Since that series, most of the teams to put on the blue pinstripes have been mediocre. The 12 years that followed would see the departure or injury of several key players and five managerial changes. From 2010 to 2014, the Cubs did not once finish with a winning record. Things were as bleak as ever on the north side of Chicago.
But times have changed.
Last year was the first playoff win for the Cubs since the 2003 NLCS. Anchored by young talent and pitching depth, the Cubs entered this season as favorites to win the World Series and thus far have shown little reason why they should not. They currently own the best record in Major League Baseball and sit atop the National League’s Central Division.
The rise of the Cubs can be attributed to a few key events. The purchase of the team by the Ricketts family in 2009 and the subsequent hiring of Theo Epstein as President of Baseball Operations in 2011 are perhaps the two largest. Epstein has been instrumental in assembling a team based on advanced statistical analysis as opposed to old-school methods of player valuation.
The 2016 Cubs have qualities which will put them in a position to contend for a championship come October. They have veteran leadership in the form of David Ross and Ben Zobrist. The pitching staff is led by Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta, who is in the midst of one of the most dominating pitching stretches in baseball history. Arrieta is followed in the rotation by fellow starters John Lackey and Jon Lester. The offense is bolstered by the big bats of stars like Jason Heyward, Anthony Rizzo, and Kris Bryant. Factor in Dexter Fowler, whose .474 on-base percentage led the majors in April, 22-year-old Addison Russell, and a strong bullpen, and you have a winning formula. Not to mention the brilliance and energy of Joe Maddon, 2015’s Manager of the Year.
The Cubs have been built to win not just this year, but for the next five to 10 years. Rizzo and Heyward are both 26, Bryant and left-fielder Jorge Soler are only 24, and Kyle Schwarber, lost for the season with a knee injury, is 23. To top it off, the Cubs boast a farm system that ranks among the top five in the league. They will be very good for the foreseeable future.
There is a lot to be excited about in Chicago. Fans are already looking toward the post-season, which will offer the best chance the Cubs have had to win the World Series in a long time. This is not the same organization that it was when Steve Bartman’s attempt at a souvenir earned him the disdain of an entire city. It is clear, from the revamped front office to the youth of the roster to the renovations at Wrigley, that a new era has dawned for my perennial losers. I am optimistic that this year’s team will be the one to finally conquer the Curse of the Billy Goat. If not, there is always next year. Go Cubs go.
