Congratulations fans, your Chicago Cubs were crowned Major League Baseball’s World Series Champions after defeating the Cleveland Indians in the final deciding game of a best-of-seven series. This was the first time the Cubs had won this title since 1908.
Being From Boston, many Red Sox fans like myself can relate to this drought as the Red Sox went 86 years without winning a World Series before the 2004 season where the defeated the St. Louis Cardinals. However, most of you fans will laugh seeing Red Sox fans complain about their title drought, as fans from Chicago waited twenty two years longer. In fact, there are no recorded fans who were even alive during your last World Series victory. But I don't feel bad for you Cub fans, because even though the Sox fans waited a shorter time, the wait was much more painful and heartbreaking.
It is hard to be invested a team who is absolutely dreadful year after year. From 1946 to 1988, the heart of their drought, your team had the best record in their league one time. One good team in forty-two years does not give you much to root for. Sure it’s not fun when your team is bad, but at least you fans knew you could stop watching in mid-August. Bad records and last place finishes were a specialty for the Cubs in this drought.
Besides their World Series loss all the way back in 1945, the closest your team has ever come was a National League Championship Series in 2003. The series in which your biggest scapegoat was a scrawny fan with glasses and headphones who tried to catch a foul ball by the name of Steve Bartmen. This is where us Red Sox fans laugh at Chicago natives who feel sorry for their fanbase. There was no heartbreak in Chicago, no walk-off home runs, questionable coaching decisions or little league errors that cost them a World Series. Just a series of bad teams who were the laughing stock of the MLB for generations.
The Boston Red Sox took heartbreak, and turned it into a work of art. Sure there were bad Red Sox teams, but there were also teams that were almost a deadlock to win a championship, who collapsed down the playoff stretch. Cubs fans did not have to endure watching a team filled with all-time greats such as Carl Yastrzemski, Luis Tiant, Dwight Evans, Jim Rice, Fred Lynn and many more, lose a game 7 in the World Series. No, they didn't just lose it. The Red Sox made you believe by Yastrzemski hitting a walk off home run in game 6, only to completely rip your heart out in game seven.
Then there was the 1986 team. The team that once again, made it to the world series and actually had a three games to two lead over the New York Mets. Not only that, but they were ONE OUT away from winning. Then a slow dribbler gets hit to first base. What happens next? The ball goes right under the legs of Sox first basemen Bill Buckner, and the winning run comes home to score. Once again the series goes to a game seven, and the Red Sox lose again. The Red Sox did not just lose, they made their whole fan base believe they were going to win, and then found a way to lose in the most devastating way.
The heartbreak does not end there. In 2003, the year before they won, might have been the most heartbreaking end to a season in their history. Like us Red Sox fans, you Cub fans were also in the League Championship Series. However, your excuse for losing the series is a fan who reached for a foul ball that was hit into the stands. Mr. Steve Bartman, did nothing wrong in the rulebook, he simply reached for a foul ball and your poor-sported outfielder Moiśes Alou got upset because he didn't catch the ball. You Cub fans then used this one simple play as an excuse for other fans to pity you.
Red Sox fans wish we had your luck. In that same year, our team had a 5-2 lead, with six outs remaining to get to the world series. The Red Sox, once again blew that lead to our hated rivals the New York Yankees. After the Yankees tied it, they then waited until the eleventh inning in before ripping our hearts out, and hitting a walk off home run in game 7. It wasn't until 2004 where finally, after one final suffering of getting beat down in three straight games to the Yankees, where the curse was lifted. 8 games later, us Red Sox fans finally got to celebrate a championship.
So go ahead Cubs fans, celebrate your victory after 108 years of horrible baseball teams. Do not misinterpret this, I really am happy for Cubs fans as I’m sure most Red Sox fans are. However, your years of waiting were not nearly as harsh as those in Boston. There was no heartbreak, no high expectations and no real chance of winning until recent seasons. Enjoy your championship, you finally earned it, but one hundred and eight years of bad baseball can not compare to eighty six years of complete heartbreak.
Sincerely, a Red Sox fan.
