If the Chicago Cubs are ultimately do win the World Series, you might want to keep an eye out for four guys riding by on horseback. The dream season by the North Siders has seen them face and conquer three of the five curses that have bedevilled them for a long time. Two more remain. One, they may not have to face. As it stands, the 2015 MLB playoffs could rock the city of Chicago to its core.
Curse #1 - Bad Trading
One curse that the Cubs are taming is bad trading. Throughout the decades, the Cubs have never been blessed with particularly competent management and have made poor personnel decisions. Combined with, until recently, mercurial ownership, players that could have aided in bringing a World Series title to Chicago have been either traded or ignored completely. To quote the Geico car insurance commercials, "If you're the Chicago Cubs, you make bad trades. It's what you do." Acquiring Jake Arrieta in exchange for Steve Clevenger and Scott Feldman broke a decades long tendency to make poor trading decisions. The most notable one is, of course, trading Lou Brock. To see the others, go here.
Curse #2 - Dodgy Ownership
PK Wrigley had the college of coaches. For the Tribune Company, it was everything and the Cubs fortunes suffered. The college of coaches happened for two reasons. 1. The Cubs had a chance to be trailblazers and make Buck Owens the first black manager in baseball. They instead instead hired Lou Boudreau and as the Chicago Tribune online says, "Unwilling to give Lou Boudreau, then his manager, a two-year contract, the late Mr. Wrigley, the longtime caretaker of the Cubs, said he went to the dictionary and looked up manager. The definition he found, Wrigley insisted, was dictator." So, he decided that not one but several managers would be better. It wasn't.
The Tribune Company, who would purchase the team from Wrigley in 1981, was no better. Though they would be responsible for rearing a whole generation of Cubs fans, in the 37 years they controlled the Cubs, they made the playoffs only 6 times.
Curse #3 - St.Louis Cardinals
Longtime rivals, the Cardinals have become the model of consistency. While the Cubs fortunes sank, the Cards have built one of the strongest franchises top to bottom.
The 2015 playoffs were the first time two teams have met in the postseason and it finished decidedly in the Cubs favor.
Curse #4 - 1969 New York Mets
If the Chicago Cubs play the New York Mets in the NLCS, you will be hearing a lot about 1969. They will tell you about a collapse of epic proportions. MLB.com sets it up, " With Leo Durocher not letting them ease up on the pedal, the Cubs opened up a nine-game lead by mid-June. It was still at nine games two months later, on Aug. 16." It was the biggest collapse by a team in the regular season until the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves topped it years later.
The Mets would go on to win the World Series and the Cubs would have to wait 15 years before they would get another chance in the playoffs. The Cubs await either the Mets or Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS.
Curse #5 - The World Series
The Chicago Cubs have the longest drought between championship in professional sports at 107 years. If the Cubs break this curse, be on the lookout for those horsemen.
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