The Chicago Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908 and until now, they had not played in the World Series since 1945. But that all changed with this year’s team.
The 2016 Cubs were a powerhouse in the regular season, posting 103 wins — their most since 1910. Though the team’s fans were so used to failure and the team not coming through, this year’s bunch was different.
Just when it looked like the San Francisco Giants had turned the momentum on them, they rallied for four runs in the ninth to win the NLDS in Game 4. And when they were down 2-1 in the NLCS to the Dodgers, they rallied to win three in a row. Everything about the team was different, and franchise cornerstone Kris Bryant explained why that was the case.
“We’re too young. We don’t care about it. We don’t look into it,” Bryant said after the Game 6 clinching win during an interview with FS1’s Ken Rosenthal. “This is a new team. This is a completely different time of our lives. We’re really enjoying it. We’re just getting started.”
Bryant was oozing with happiness after the Game 6-clinching win.
“This is the coolest thing I’ve ever been a part of,” he said.
That’s exactly what it takes to break a curse like the Cubs have endured. You need a bunch of new blood, new players who are so young they don’t even comprehend how much the fan base has suffered. Things like the Billy Goat or Steve Bartman don’t matter to them because they didn’t really live through those things.
And Bryant, who led the team with 39 home runs during the regular season, deserves as much credit as anyone on the team for turning things around on the North Side. From getting key hits against the Giants to spark rallies to delivering vs. the Dodgers, Bryant has been a postseason monster.
