[VIDEO] A nice song by the late Steve Goodman. The response to this song caused him to write the Cubs anthem - Go Cubs Go - you may hear at Wrigley Field after Cubs victories, especially if you're actually there at a game also when you watch a TV broadcast.
Goodman unfortunately would die of cancer in September 1984, that year the Cubs faced the San Diego Padres and would lose the NLCS that year and went the full five games. Up until 1985, the NLCS was best three out of five games.
All the same this silly but somewhat sad song has a new meaning as there have been generations of Cubs fans who have been waiting for a Cubs world series. They got one and now they hope of a long time in coming world series victory.
We shall see as game 1 of the 2016 world series against another long suffering team - Cleveland Indians - will start Tuesday night.
In the meanwhile I can only hope that Mr. Goodman is smiling from the stars especially when the Cubs clinched the National League pennant!
I want to refer you to the last two posts regarding the Cubs. The first is the championship history of the Cubs which dates all the way back to the founding of the National League in 1876. Then there is another post and my history of Cubs fandom.
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Chicago #Cubs championship history #postseason
Besides we expect so much from Theo Epstein who also catapulted another so-called cursed team the Boston Red Sox to
As for the Cubs needless to say they last won it all in 1908, their only other title was the year before in 1907. So it'll be 108 years since the Cubs last won it all as of 2016. That's quite a title drought.
For the Red Sox their curse was as the result of them trading Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1919. The curse of the bambino saw the Yankees begin their rise to success in baseball to the point where today they're a valuable sports franchise.
Now 71 years ago a man wanted to take his goat to Wrigley Field but was denied. While accounts vary how the curse came to be the Cubs still haven't won a world series since 1908 nor have they appeared in one since 1945.
So the Cubs haven't won it all in 108 years and the last world series appearance was 1945. What years have the Cubs also won the National League Championship? Keep in mind the world series as we know it has existed since 1903 and the National League started in 1876 which predates the first world series.
So the Cubs NL pennants according to Wikipedia are 1876, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1885, 1886, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, & 1945. 1906 is the year of Chicago's only - so far - crosstown world series and the Chicago White Sox won their first world series that year.
In addition the Cubs have also won division titles in 1984, 1989, 2003, 2007, 2008 & 2016. Won wild card berths in 1998 & 2015. It was a big deal in 2003 & 2015 that the Cubs were successful in advancing in the MLB playoffs although they still haven't quite sealed the deal on making the "fall classic".
Now before 1969, the AL and NL pennant winners were largely determined by who won the most games during the course of the season. Thus the two winningest teams in either league get to play in the World Series. Then in 1969 is the creation of the League Championship Series where the two division winners in each league play in a best of five until 1985 after that year best of seven.
In 1993 Major League Baseball approved the League Divison Series which is a best of five to be played before the League Championship Series. Also with the new playoff format each league has a wild card berth for the fourth ranked team. With the new playoff format each league has three division winners and one wild card with the best record who isn't a division winner.
In 2012, MLB started another round of the baseball postseason a one-game wild card playoff. In 2015 the Cubs played in the wild card playoff against the Pittsburgh Pirates which they won. And in 2016, the Cubs played against the San Francisco Giants who won the wild card playoff against NY Mets.
During the 2015 playoff run of the Cubs people kept bringing up the Steve Bartman episode of 2003 and some sports fans haven't allowed the Cubs to live down the 1969 collapse against the NY Mets. As a Cubs fan I look forward to the day when they live down those low points once and for all!
In 2016, the Cubs have decidedly kicked the "curse of the goat". Now best wishes to the Cubs for the MLB world series! Here's the schedule for the world series against the Indians.
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