Wonderful Winners

                                                            
                                           

    I know it’s been a week since the Cubs won the World Series, so this is long overdue. I am a big Yankee fan, but I was certainly routing for the Cubbies. Throughout the whole postseason, I kept waiting for the “Steve Bartman” moment. As we all know, the Cubs had not won in 107 years before this year. They have been “Cursed” since 1945. When you the Red Sox had their “Curse” it was just about not winning a World Series. The Sox had been there before 2004 but just lost the Series like 1986, 1975, and 1967. Before this season, the last pennant winning team for the Cubs was just after the end of World War 2. 

   When the Cubs finished the season with a Major League best 103 wins, my first thoughts were “Ok, they will make it to the NLCS and maybe win a few games in that round.” They certainly exceeded my expectations this season. There are so many people that deserve credit for this World Series title, but the question is where do we start? Theo Epstein, Joe Maddon, the players all of them deserve credit. If you want my honest opinion, I feel that the Cubs owner, Tom Rickkets, deserves the most credit. You must thinking “What are you thinking?!?! Theo Epstein built this team!” Yes, you couldn’t be more right about that issue. If it was not for Rickkets pushing to get Epstein, would they have even been in this position? He pushed to obtain him, even gave the Red Sox compensation for breaking his contract with them. After Ricketts, it is then Epstein that deserves the most credit.

    The last time the Cubs won a World Series, Teddy Roosevelt was president, we did not fight in World War 1 yet, and Babe Ruth had yet to play in Major League Baseball. The last time they actually played in a World Series, we just finished World War 2, Harry Truman was president, and we had the beginning of thE “Baby Boomer” generation.  Everyone knows the Cubs as the “Lovable Losers”, but something I do not quite understand is that how losers if they have had a multitude of winning seasons? Granted they did not win a pennant in 71 years, it does not mean that have lost. Now they are the “Wonderful Winners.”

  The Chicago Cubs were similar to the ’98 Yankees. What do I mean by that comparison? They were the best in the league in every category. The 98 Yankees were by far the better team, but the 2016 Cubs had the best pitching, offense, and defense this season. The Cubs are the current model on how to build a team through trade and drafts and only some free agent signings. Theo Epstein has done for Chicago what he did for Boston. He is building from the bottom up. The have the likes of Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Addisson Russell mixed in with the leadership of Ben Zobrist, Jon Lester, and Jason Heyward. It is the perfect mix they had to put a winning formula together.

   Unless you are a Cardinals fan or your team was in the playoffs, I believe everyone was routing for the Cubs. Even President Obama, a White Sox fan, was routing for the Cubs to win it all. The Cubs are more just like a Lovable team not lovable losers. I remember just talking to friends and family about what was going on during their playoff games. Joe Maddon was making some questionable calls at best, but it didn’t matter because it was fun to watch. The World Series storylines were just intriguing. Terry Francona vs Theo Epstein, 176 combined years of a World Series drought, or 2 championships for the City of Cleveland, all of this make this a classic 7 game World Series,

   Chicago got the thrill of a lifetime when Kris Bryant fielded the last out of Game 7. Do I believe that suspense is over for the Cubs? It maybe, but the thrill will be there for years to come. Maybe we have round 2 next year and now Cleveland breaks their drought. The great thing about baseball is uncertainty. The uncertainty of which team will win a World Series, surprise with a division title, or which players will breakout. Baseball surely knows how to surprise us every year. Who knows, maybe next year Vin Scully unretires?! Like Tom Hanks once said “There’s no crying in baseball!!” He’s right! There’s only enjoying it!