The Chicago Cubs own one of the most well known records in Baseball: The longest World Series drought in the MLB, going strong since 1908. While they have the best record in the majors this season, some meme makers, obviously not fans of the team, suggest it’s going to be another sad ending in this year’s playoffs.
Maybe, maybe not. The Cubs made the playoffs last season for the first time since the Theo Epstein rebuild plan began, and it seems to be working fine. They knocked out the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS after beating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the wild card game. Their attempt to make the World Series for the first time since 1945 was stopped by the New York Mets, sweeping the Cubs in the NLCS.
But it was a start: First playoff appearance in 7 years, first postseason series win since 2003. And in 2016, the Cubs, at least in the regular season, took it to another level, so far winning 101 games, marking their best season since 1910, and their first 100 win season since 1935. The word huge favorites is not really useful in a sport like baseball, but seeing them get knocked out by anyone would be quite surprising. Their scoring differential is 100 runs better than anyone in the National League, and 60 runs better than the closest AL team, the Boston Red Sox.
World series champions, curse breakers, or maybe in for another disappointment. It doesn’t matter. The Cubs have established themselves to be contenders for more than 2015 and 2016, but for a lot more years to come, as long as they handle the talent they’ve compiled well, disposing of it and adding to it cleverly as they go along. Nothing is guaranteed, but the future and present are looking bright for the Cubs, which should include a happy ending for once, which isn’t something most Cubs fans have in their dictionary.
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