These are the saddest of possible words:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."

Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,
Tinker and Evers and Chance.
Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
Making a Giant hit into a double-

Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance.
- Franklin P. Adams

This poem was written 105 years ago. Its subjects, Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance, were the shortstop, second basemen and first basemen for the Chicago Cubs in the early 20^th century. They played alongside Hall of Famer Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown (Tinker and Evers are also in the Hall of Fame) against Ty Cobb in his rookie year and in West Side Park instead of the yet-to-be-constructed Wrigley Field.

In 1908, these three infielders, oft referred to as the best 6-4-3 double play combination in baseball history, became the last three Cubbie infielders to win the World Series.

The franchise moved to Wrigley in 1916, where Chicago sported some the best players the game has seen. Cubs greats such as Grover Cleveland Alexander, Rogers Hornsby and Dizzy Dean graced Wrigley in its early years, and pennants weren’t hard to come by for dominant Chicago. They finished atop the National League in ’29, ’32, ’35 and ’38, but each time a Fall Classic victory eluded them.

In 1945, the Cubs won their most recent National League Pennant and competed in their most recent World Series against the Detroit Tigers. They lost in seven games. But perhaps the biggest story from that World Series was that of Billy Sianis, owner of the Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago.

Sianis, a long time Cub fan but an even better businessman, was never shy about gaining publicity for his popular tavern. During Game 4 of the 1945 World Series, he made perhaps one of his memorable stunts. After buying two box seat tickets to the game, Sianis brought a date: his pet goat Murphy. After parading around the field for a few innings, he and the goat retired to their seats, only to be asked to leave toward the end of the game after complaints arose regarding his date’s unusual odor.

As he left, enraged, Sianis exclaimed that, “The Cubs ain’t gonna win no more.” So far he’s been right, and, despite many attempts from the franchise and it’s most die-hard fans the Curse of the Billy Goat has yet to be broken.

Despite boasting players such as Ernie Banks, Ryne Sandberg, Billy Williams and Ferguson Jenkins, the Cubs suffered through the darkness of a pennant-less tunnel in the middle and late parts of the 20^th century. In the early 2000s, led by the hitting of Sammy Sosa and the pitching of both Mark Prior and Kerry Wood, the Cubs came within five outs of a World Series.

Leading 3-0 with one outs in the eighth inning of Game 5 in the National League Championship Series, Florida Marlin Louis Castillo hit a high fly ball into foul territory down the left field line. Cubs’ left fielder Moises Alou chased it down and jumped against the wall, glove reaching into the seats.

But instead of Alou making the catch, a fan, Steve Bartman, interfered, denying Alou of the catch, the Cubs of the out and, after surrendering eight more Marlin runs that inning and a loss the next day in Game 7, a World Series berth. The Curse of the Billy Goat, 58 years later, seemed very much alive.

After back-to-back NL Central division titles in 2007 and 2008 (and back-to-back NLDS series sweeps at the hands of the Diamondbacks and Dodgers) and a decent 2009 season, the Cubs receded back into the darkness of the tunnel.

Today, the Cubs are in third place in the NL Central, 2.5 games behind the second-place Pirates and 7.5 games behind the division-leading Cardinals. But these third-place Cubs, led by club president Theo Epstein, manager Joe Maddon and a host of young stars such Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant, possess a wild-card berth and have won 17 of their last 19. Their 67-49 record, good for third place in the NL Central, would be good enough for first place in any other division in the National League. Not only are they on the rise, they’re here to win.

Perhaps, as good as these young Cubs are, they will fall short this season and in the near future. Perhaps their core, frustrated with failure, will collapse and leave in free agency, just as the cores of past Cub teams have. Perhaps the dark tunnel is longer, and the 106-year drought, which is the longest championship drought for any major North American sports team, will continue to persist. Perhaps the Curse of the Billy Goat has not lifted from the Loveable Losers.

Or perhaps it has.