Chicago Cubs

The Cubs are charter members of the National League, founded in 1876 as the Chicago White Stockings. Under legendary player-manager Cap Anson, the franchise won five NL pennants in the 1880s and established itself as one of baseball's elite clubs. The team cycled through several names before becoming the Cubs in 1907.

The early 20th century was the franchise's golden age. The 1906 Cubs won 116 games - a record that stood for almost a century - though they lost the World Series to their crosstown rival White Sox. They bounced back to win consecutive World Series in 1907 and 1908, with the famed double-play combination of Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance anchoring the infield. The 1908 championship, however, would be the last for 108 years.

The Cubs reached the World Series in 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, and 1945, losing each time. Wrigley Field, which opened in 1914 and became the Cubs' home in 1916, grew into one of baseball's most treasured landmarks even as the team consistently fell short. The ivy-covered outfield walls, the manual scoreboard, and the neighborhood rooftop seats became beloved symbols of baseball tradition.

The post-World War II decades were unkind to the Cubs. The franchise went 20 consecutive years without a winning season from 1947 to 1966, one of the most sustained periods of losing in baseball history. Despite the presence of Hall of Famers Ernie Banks and Billy Williams, the Cubs couldn't translate individual excellence into team success. Banks' cheerful refrain - "Let's play two!" - became emblematic of the optimism that Cubs fans clung to despite the evidence.

The 1969 season offered hope and then devastating disappointment. The Cubs held a commanding lead in the NL East in August, only to collapse down the stretch as the Miracle Mets surged past them. The collapse became one of baseball's most famous cautionary tales and deepened the sense that the franchise was somehow hexed.

Through the 1970s and into the 1980s, the Cubs remained a cultural phenomenon even as they lost. WGN's television broadcasts turned them into a national team, and Wrigley Field - still without lights until 1988 - became a pilgrimage site for baseball fans. The "lovable losers" identity was both a badge of honor and a source of genuine anguish for the faithful.

The 1984 Cubs won the NL East behind Ryne Sandberg's MVP season and Rick Sutcliffe's dominant pitching, but lost the NLCS to the Padres after taking a 2-0 series lead. The 1989 and 1998 teams reached the postseason but were eliminated quickly. Each near-miss added another layer to the franchise's reputation as cosmically unlucky.

The 2003 season brought the Cubs within five outs of their first World Series since 1945. Leading the Marlins 3-0 in the eighth inning of NLCS Game 6 at Wrigley Field, a fan named Steve Bartman reached for a foul ball, and the Cubs' defense unraveled in one of the most infamous collapses in postseason history. They lost Game 7 as well, and the Bartman incident became a national story that crystallized the curse narrative.

The Ricketts family purchased the Cubs in 2009 and committed to a comprehensive rebuild. President of baseball operations Theo Epstein, who had broken the Red Sox curse in 2004, was hired in 2011 with a mandate to do the same in Chicago. The resulting teardown was painful - the Cubs lost 101 games in 2012 - but it was building toward something historic.