8 Reasons Why The Cubs Will Not Win The World Series Written by Tyler Schiefelbein
I consider myself many things. A great friend, a wonderful father (someday), and perhaps one of the best to ever step onto the wiffle ball field. But the thing that people will be talking about at my funeral besides the fact that I died from saving several children from a burning building, is that I was a die hard Cubs fan.
I'm lucky in a sense, I've only been alive for 21 years of the insanely long 108 year championship drought. But I unfortunately have felt the sting of watching the north side crew lose season after season, many times without making the playoffs. But this season is different. We aren't the same Lovable Loser team that would finish 5th in the NL Central in years past and claim "Next year is the year!". If you're like me, you'd rather be the team that has the target on their back. But being optimistic is a tough thing when you've had your heart broken more times than Taylor Swift. If the Cubs happen to not win the World Series in 2016, this list will tell you why..
But before we jump into the pessimistic list, let's take a look at a few things that have happened since the Cubs 1908 World Series championship season..
Haley's Comet
Haley's comet passed Earth not once, but twice |
Over 40 Summer and Winter Olympics have been held |
The Cubs have played almost 15,000 regular-season games |
Eleven amendments were added to the Constitution |
The Titanic was built, set sail, sank, and was rediscovered |
Harry Caray was born, and died |
Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Oklahoma and New Mexico became states |
Radio and TV were invented |
8. Cubs are too good.
'Cause why not start here? The Cubs started the season absolutely on fire and finished the first half of the season 53-35. Which begs the question of 'when does the down fall start?'. The Cubs finished the before the all-star break losing 15 of their last 20 games. Even though the mid season slump has been a little hard to watch, the cubs are still at the top end of a lot of positive statistics including:
6th in Home Runs |
2nd in ERA |
2nd in Runs Scored |
4th in Wins |
3rd in Pitching Strike Outs |
A lot of teams will go through rough patches, but hopefully the Cubs can go into October playing winning baseball.
7. Cubs are too young.
It's no longer a secret that the Cubs have a great group of young ball players. With the likes of Wilson Contreras, Javy Baez, Jorge Soler, and Kris Bryant, the Cubs will have plenty of talent across the diamond for many years to come. But getting into the playoffs is half the battle. It's no mistake that most of the teams that win the Fall Classic, have a great set of veterans who have been in the league for several seasons. With Ben Zobrist winning the World Series last season with the Royals, he can be a great pillar for this young team to look up to late in the playoffs.
6. The San Francisco Giants
The Giants have won the World Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014.. notice a pattern? Not only do the Giants have a strange thing for winning championships in even numbered years, but the Giants also boast the best record in all of baseball right now with a 57-33 record. Also, the Bay Area is due for a championship this year as they saw the San Jose Sharks and the Golden State Warriors lose in the finals of their respective leagues.
5. Bullpen Blues
With the Cubs struggling with starting pitching in the last month or so, the team has had to look to their bullpen earlier in games than they'd like. Unfortunately, the bullpen has given up plenty of runs, making it harder for the Cubs offense to get ahead in games. If there is a soft spot in the Cubs 25 man roster, it would be the relief pitching. With Wilson Contreras playing well above expectation, some have speculated that the Cubs will look to deal the power hitting Kyle Schwarber for some help in the bullpen.
4. Injuries
Speaking of Kyle Schwarber, who else felt like crying bitter tears after his season ending knee injury just a few games into the season? Fortunately the Cubs have only had a few minor injuries in the first half of the season. With both Dexter Fowler and Jorge Soler almost ready to reenter the lineup after injury, the Cubs are ready to right the ship and get back to their winning ways in the second half of the season. The Cubs need to stay healthy to be a power house team in October. But one thing Joe Maddon has done well, is give his players plenty of rest when they need it.
3. The NLCS
This is a tough one to write about. The Cubs have lost 4 straight NLCS series' since the last time they made it to the World series (1945). I don't want to go into too much detail about the 2003 NLCS series with the Marlins out of fear of shattering my keyboard and taking a baseball bat to my computer like Carlos Zambrano taking out that gatorade cooler. Last season the Cubs were swept by the unbelievably hot Mets in 4 games. It's hard to tell what the Cubs will do once they finally get past the NLCS series, but this new era of Cubs have as good a chance as anybody.
2. The Division
The National League Central right now is a three headed monster. Last season, the 3 best teams in the National League belonged to the Central (Cardinals, Pirates, Cubs). The Cubs got the upper hand on both teams, knocking the Pirates out in the Wild Card game, and beating the Cardinals 3-1 in the Division Series. So far the Cubs sit atop the division standing, but a red hot Pirates team is closing in and the Cardinals are never out of a division race. The last few months of the season will be fun to watch as these teams will undoubtedly beat the heck out of each other to try to earn a place in the playoffs.
1. The Curse
Where to start.. the Cubs have been "cursed" since 1945 when a stupid guy wasn't allowed to bring a stupid goat in the stadium because stupid goats smell bad. So the stupid guy cursed the Cubs and stated that they will never win a world series again. Ever since then, the Cubs have of course not won a World Series. They have also had some strange things happen that are almost too good to be true.
In 1969, arguably one the best Cubs teams ever assembled had a comfortable lead over the Mets in the standings. In a late season game with the Mets, a black cat got onto the field.. nothing too crazy. Except the black cat made a B-line right towards the Cubs dugout. And for good measure, it circled Ron Santo who was minding his own business at the on-deck circle. The Cubs went on to blow their lead in the standings.
October 14, 2003. Wrigley Field. Steve Bartman.. I've already said too much. I for one am not superstitious. I do not believe in curses. But I..
I hope that the Cubs can prove me wrong. I hope that they can break the "curse" that has been unfairly put on them. But if they can't, and this article unfortunately comes true, then NEXT YEAR IS OUR YEAR.
