By the time you read this, the Chicago Cubs and their fans may be coming off the biggest hangover in the Second City's sports history.
That applies whether the Cubs were crowned National League champions Saturday night for the first time since Harry Truman was in the White House (1945) -- or the Los Angeles Dodgers forced a Game 7 tonight at Wrigley Field.
With the weight of the Sears Tower on their shoulders after 108 years of watching other teams pop champagne corks in October, the 2016 Cubs, winners of 103 games in the regular season, will be remembered eithers as champions or chumps. This is the code that professional sports teams live by, and no exceptions can or should be made for the Cubs, however lovable.
Will they be remembered heroically like the 1969 New York Mets, lovable losers turned World Series winners, or the 2007 New England Patriots and 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, teams that won nearly all their games but left a championship on the table?
While no Cub fan, I'm guessing, was around in 1908 when the franchise last won the World Series, many who live and die by the Cubs can give book, chapter and verse of Chicago teams that gagged under pennant pressure.
* The 1969 Cubs led the National League East for most of the summer that man went to the moon or Woodstock, whichever was closer. That team had Hall of Famers Ernie Banks and Billy Williams homering over ivy-covered walls and Ferguson Jenkins pitching every fourth or fifth day. Ron Santo, the team's popular (at least to Cubs fans) third baseman, kicked his heels in the air after every Chicago victory, which seemed an everyday occurrence until the Miracle Mets caught them in September and produced baseball's biggest October surprise ever.
* The 1984 Cubs, with Hall of Famers Harry Caray in the broadcast booth and Ryne Sandberg at second base, made their fans feel like winners until the ninth inning of Game 4 of the NL championship series. After the Cubs tied it 5-5 with two in the eighth, Tony Gwynn singled off Cubs closer Lee Smith and Steve Garvey, however awkward he looked in anything but Dodger blue, homered to right center for a 7-5 San Diego victory that evened the series.
With the pennant at stake, Chicago jumped ahead 3-0 in Game 5 and led 3-2 when the baseball gods conspired against the North Siders. First baseman Leon Durham let a ground ball under his glove, after which MVP Sandberg misread another in a four-run seventh that made the Padres, baseball tyros (in their 16th season) compared to the Cubs, pennant winners for the first time.
* The 2003 Cubs betrayed the faith of their fans like none in franchise history. Leading Florida 3-0 at Wrigley Field in NLCS Game 6 and five outs from the pennant, the Cubs came unraveled after left fielder Moises Alou reached for a foul ball near the stands -- and encountered a Cubs fan wanting a souvenir. Like Durham in the '84 NLCS, Steve Bartman botched the play. From that moment on, the 2003 Cubs slept with the fishes, Florida's eight-run eighth and 8-3 victory forcing a Game 7 that the Cubs led 5-3 but lost 9-6.
This is the baggage that Cubs fans, a long-suffering bunch to be sure, carry into each season, hoping for atonement from baseball gods whom they feel sure have long since quit taking their calls.
These Cubs looked in a catatonic state after consecutive shutouts by the Dodgers in games 2 and 3 of the NLCS, giving LA a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. A 10-2 Cubs rout in Game 4 lifted the gloom somewhat, although doubt remained in the minds of sports' most pessimistic fans. Were the Cubs finally cured of their batting slump or only teasing their fans?
With 19-game winner Jon Lester working seven strong innings and Addison Russell's two-run homer breaking a 1-1 tie, the Cubs blasted the Dodgers 8-4 Thursday night in a Game 5 that lasted longer than "Gone With the Wind." Although Kershaw, a one-time playoff patsy become Mr. October, awaited in Game 6, the Cubs broke Game 5 open with a five-run eighth inning in which Chicago stung the ball and the Los Angeles defense collapsed under the weight of the Cubs' aggressive baserunning.
These Cubs, like the World Series champion Red Sox of 2004 and 2007, are a Theo Epstein production -- an amalgam of players developed through the farm system and others acquired in trades or through free agency. Kris Bryant, their fine third baseman, is poised to collect the National League Rookie of the Year and MVP awards in consecutive seasons -- Cal Ripken reaped the same awards in the American League, the 1983 Orioles winning it all after coming close in Ripken's first season.
Instead of reliving all the tales of horror from so many lost seasons, Cub fans had reason to think positive before Game 6 against the Dodgers Saturday night. As native Chicagoan Hillary Clinton pursued the White House, Cubs Nation dreamed of something not witnessed since the days of William Howard Taft. Incidentally, Clinton turns 68 on Wednesday, whence falls Game 2 of the World Series in Cleveland. Depending when you read this, the Cubs will have made it or will still be trying.
Sports on 10/23/2016