I went to my first Chicago Cubs game when I was three years old. It was a Thursday, and a game that had been rescheduled earlier in the week due to rain; consequently, the day’s attendance was extremely low. When a home run ball got caught in Wrigley Field’s iconic ivy, a worker at the ballpark retrieved the baseball and, seeing that my parents and I were practically the only ones in the bleachers, gave it to me. Even though I don’t have a strong recollection of this game, I cite it as the day my lifelong love for the Lovable Losers began. While this way of life has been arduous for me and my fellow Cubs fans in the past century, I’m finally starting to believe that we may well see a World Series Championship on the North Side of Chicago in the next few years.
The Chicago Cubs are one of the oldest continuing franchises in United States professional sports, having played professional baseball since 1876. However, the team is most notable for their championship drought; the last time the Chicago Cubs won a World Series was in 1908. To give some perspective on just how long its been, here’s what was going on in the world at that time. The Ottoman and Russian Empires still existed. Adolf Hitler was 19 years old. The RMS Titanic had just been approved to be built by White Star Line. Henry Ford was just starting to mass-produce the Ford Model T. And it took a structure as large as the Eiffel Tower to send long distance radio messages. Clearly, Cubs fans have been waiting quite a long time.
Of course, this extreme drought doesn’t mean that the Cubs haven’t had their chances. Even though the team also hasn’t appeared in a World Series since the year World War II ended, they’ve been the favorites to win the Fall Classic countless times in the past 108 years. Thus, the devoted fans have sought to find reasons, however illogical they may be, to account for the team’s seemingly endless ability to blow leads.
A favorite Chicago legend is “The Curse of the Billy Goat,” originating in the 1945 World Series. After tavern owner Billy Sianis was asked to leave Wrigley Field during Game 4 of the World Series due to the smell of his pet goat Murphy, he infamously exclaimed “Them Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no more.” Even though the Cubs had already won two games in the series, they ultimately lost to the Detroit Tigers and haven’t been back in the World Series since. Fans also cite “The Steve Bartman Incident,” in which the team was five outs away from earning a place in the championship series. In the 8th inning, Bartman deflected a foul ball away from outfielder Moisés Alou and caused him to miss the out. The Cubs lost their 3-0 lead later that inning and the chance to play in the World Series.
Personally, the first seasons I can distinctly recall were in 2007 and 2008 when the Cubs won back to back division championships, but went 0-6 in the postseason. I remember going to Cubs games every summer when returning to my birthplace of Chicago and usually watching my team raise the famous white W flag in victory. Nevertheless, until this year, I hadn’t seen the Cubs win a game I attended since I was 12 years old. In those six years, all that was to be found was a lot of losing seasons and heartbreak.
Yet, the signs of hope soon began to appear. Theo Epstein joined the team as club president in 2012, just after earning the Boston Red Sox a long over due championship. The Cubs suffered through dismal seasons in order to earn top-tier prospects like Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant. The team also signed veterans like pitcher John Lester, and capped it all off by hiring manager Joe Maddon. Sports analysts predicted that the Cubs would eventually become a team to beat, and the year finally came this previous season.
The Cubs started off the 2015 season fairly average, almost always staying around a .500 record. Nonetheless, a shift occurred after the All Star break, and the team only lost 18 games after the month of July. Lead by breakout young stars and an unforgettable season by pitcher Jake Arrieta, the team finished with 97-65 record that led them to the playoffs. They managed to beat both the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals and hosted their first ever playoff home series at Wrigley field. However, their title dreams ended when they were swept by the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series. Even so, Cubs players and staff were awarded numerous postseason honors, including NL Rookie of the Year, NL Manager of the Year, and the Cy Young Award.
For the first time in almost a decade, I found myself having hope for the Chicago Cubs. My family and I regularly gathered in our living room to watch the games, and it soon became clear that this season would be unlike any I had seen in my lifetime. Since my college is about an hour north of Pittsburgh, I found myself watching the National League Wild Card Game surrounded by Pirates fans, which only made our victory all the more sweeter. Yet, what meant the most to me this season was returning to Wrigley Field and watching the Cubs hit five home runs in a 9-2 rout of the Brewers. The Chicago Cubs have a tradition of playing Steve Goodman’s song, “Go Cubs, Go” following every home game win. Singing this cheesy, but entirely wonderful anthem with thousands of other fans is completely indescribable. It’s a feeling of community, of countless people uniting to celebrate something beautiful despite countless years of letdowns. Cubs fans are often described as the most dedicated in the sports world, and I believe that this couldn’t be truer. As a result, it’s going to mean all the more to us when our beloved losers finally win a World Series. Thanks to last year's superb squad and even more offseason acquisitions, I’m feeling optimistic that Cubs fans are going to have to wait a lot less than 108 years for this iconic moment to occur.
