2003 was supposed to be The Year for the Chicago Cubs. They had a 3-2 lead over the Marlins in the NLCS, and led them 3-0 going into the bottom of the eighth inning. Mark Prior was on the hill and dealing. Then…disaster. Prior allowed a one-out double to Juan Pierre. Luis Castillo hit a foul pop-up down the line that Moises Alou nearly caught…but Steve Bartman got in Alou’s way. All hell broke loose after that.
Prior’s next pitch was a wild ball four, allowing Castillo to reach and Pierre to move up to third. Ivan Rodriguez followed with an 0-2 single to make it 3-1. Miguel Cabrera reached on an error by shortstop Alex Gonzalez to load the bases. Derrek Lee doubled in a pair to tie the game at three. Kyle Farnsworth replaced Prior on the hill, intentionally walked Mike Lowell, and gave up a go-ahead sac fly to Jeff Conine. After Farnsworth intentionally walked Todd Hollandsworth, Mike Mordecai cleared the bases to effectively end the game.
But the series wasn’t over after Game 6. The Marlins took a 3-0 first inning lead in Game 7, but the Cubs rallied to make it 5-3 in the third following homers by Kerry Wood and Moises Alou. A gassed Wood walked two of the first three hitters in the fifth, and the Marlins scored three more times to make it a 6-5 game. Chicago’s offense recorded just one more hit following that Cubs rally, a solo homer by Troy O’Leary in the seventh that cut the Marlins’ lead to 9-6. You can’t blame Steve Bartman for that offensive collapse, just like you can’t blame him for the Cubs offense going six up, six down following the Game 6 rally, and just like you can’t blame him for Dusty Baker letting Mark Prior continue to get shelled in the eighth inning of Game 6 before pulling him too late.
Since that series, Chicago has seen their cross-town rival White Sox win the World Series in 2005, their hated NL Central rival Cardinals win four NL pennants and two World Championships, and their fellow cursed team, the Boston Red Sox, claim three World Championships. Meanwhile, the Cubs haven’t won a playoff game since, and have lost 90 games four times in the last ten seasons.
The NLDS will kick off on Fox Sports 1 this Friday, and as is becoming the norm, the Cubs won’t be involved after an 89-loss year. When will they get back to the playoffs? Maybe (but doubtfully) it’ll be next season, armed with an offense starring Anthony Rizzo, Starlin Castro, Javier Baez, and Kris Bryant. Maybe it’ll be two years from now, with those young players continuing to mature and grow with some veteran presence in their lineup and pitching staff. One of these days, it’s going to happen. Maybe not in 2015, maybe not in 2016, but eventually, the Cubs *will* win a World Series.
