Bernard Menus/ via Flickr.com

We’re Still The Champs & Nothing Can Change That

108 years of waiting, of ups & downs, and finally a lifetime of tears washed it all away; But here we are in 2017 — So what now?

All of Cubs Nation sat in suspense as we watched that final ball roll in the direction of our MVP third baseman last November. We all felt our hearts skip a beat as his foot slipped on the throw to first base. We all were hit with a wave of emotions as we watched the ball sail across the field and land safely in the mitt of Anthony Rizzo. Then we cried tears of collective joy as we were hit with the reality that we had just witnessed our beloved Chicago Cubs win the World Series.

Fast forward 10 months later and it still seems like it had to have been a dream. Any Cubs fan you talk to will tell you that they have gone back and watched that final game numerous times during the 2017 season. They will also tell you, that even though they know the Cubs won, they still feel that nervous feeling as they watch the roller coaster Game 7.

We had waited our entire lives to see the Cubs win a World Series, and we wondered how our lives would change as a result. We wondered what it would be like to no longer have that proverbial “Monkey on our backs.” Now as we enter late September 2017 seeing a very different looking team than a year ago, that feeling of invincibility, that every game was within reach no matter what the score, is waning.

You would think that winning a World Series would be enough to bring us contentment for a time, yet after a very short off-season, our confidence grew into overconfidence. After all, this was the team that had accomplished the unthinkable in the baseball world; the team that had battled back time and time again throughout the playoffs against all odds. The team that made a late inning comeback against the Giants in the Playoffs, The team that took down the mighty Clayton Kershaw with a skinny 85 MPH throwing guy we all call “The Professor,” this was our Cubbies, who battled back from a 3–1 deficit in the World Series to finally bring the Commissioners trophy back to Chicago. So with all of this in mind, the confidence developed by Cubs nation didn’t seem unreasonable entering the 2017 season.

Now that we are just three short weeks away from the end of the 2017 regular season, it’s worth mentioning that we may have set our expectations just a little to high.

In fact, it’s obvious now that we did let our love for that 2016 team blind us from real expectations for the 2017 season. We have watched all year just expecting this team to suddenly become the 2016 team again, but now we are finally realizing that it just may not happen.

I’m not trying to be a dooms day writer that tells you to mail it in on the 2017 season, because the Cubs could still find some magic and make another run at a title. However, if they do we can’t look for it to resemble anything like what we witnessed last year. This time it’s going to be harder. This time it’s going to take a team that wills their way back to the top of that mountain. This time it’s going to take all the right bounces and all the right moves just to have a chance at it again. We can’t continue to treat this team as if they were ordained to be champs once again in back to back seasons, and there is plenty of historical precident to back it up.

A Historical Realization

1888 & 1889- New York Giants 1907 & 1908- Chicago Cubs 1910 & 1911- Philadelphia Athletics 1915 & 1916- Boston Red Sox 1921 & 1922- New York Giants 1927 & 1928- New York Yankees 1929 & 1930- Philadelphia Athletics 1936, ’37, ’38, & ‘39- New York Yankees 1949, ’50, ’51, ’52, & ‘53- New York Yankees 1961 & 1962- New York Yankees 1972, ’73, & ’74 -Oakland Athletics 1975 & 1976- Cincinnati Reds 1977 & 1978- New York Yankees 1992 & 1993- Toronto Blue Jays 1998, 1999, & 2000- New York Yankees

As you can see it’s just not that easy to win it all in back-to-back years. Now let’s take a look a little more recent at how past World Series Champs have followed up their big wins.

2009- NY Yankees-WS Champs

2010- The Yankees came close to getting back, but lost to the Texas Rangers in the ALCS.

2010- San Francisco Giants- WS Champs

2011- The Giants won just 18 of their last 57 games and missed the playoffs.

2011- ST Louis Cardinals- WS Champs

2012- Had a good follow up but lost to the SF Giants in the NLCS.

2012- SF Giants- WS Champs

2013- The Giants could only manage 76 wins and missed the playoffs completely.

2013- Boston Red Sox- WS Champs

2014- Fell behind enough to become sellers at the trade deadline and missed the playoffs.

2014- SF Giants- WS Champs

2015- Had two 7 game losing streaks in July & August and missed the playoffs.

2015- Kansas City Royals- WS Champs

2016- The Royals went 81–81 and fell 9 games short of making the playoffs.

2016- Chicago Cubs- WS Champs

2017- ???????????

So that is where we stand now in 2017, with a bunch of question marks hovering over this entire season. The Cubs are still clinging to a narrow lead in the Central Division with the Brewers and the Cardinals breathing down their necks. They are coming off of a sweep by the Brewers at Wrigley Field which narrowed their lead down to a measly 2 games with just 3 weeks of baseball left.

It may be a little late in the season to start realizing that this isn’t going to be easy, not to mention the fact that every team is gunning for the defending champs. It is time for us all to start realizing that this team is still accomplishing more than many teams do in the season immediately following up a title run. We as a fan base need to stop expecting the 2016 Chicago Cubs to show up and start rooting for the 2017 team to hang strong and keep putting up the good fight.

The bottom line in all of this is that we are watching a team that is giving their all to get back to the top, to again hoist the trophy at the end of the most arduous playoff road in all of sports. We need to embrace this team and get back to the old version of Cubs fans. The kind of fans that just love our Cubbies, regardless the outcome. The kind of fans that foolishly await a miracle to happen, but know deep down inside that it’s going to be a struggle. We need to cling to that 2016 season with all of our might, and if it doesn’t pan out this year, be able to move on to the next chapter in this crazy game we call Baseball.

I don’t know about you, but I'm going to enjoy these final few weeks, and no matter what happens, I’m going to walk away with my head held high knowing that we actually got to see the Chicago Cubs win a World Series. And even if we have to wait just a bit longer for the next one, it will all be worth it.

We have been there before.

Craig House is the co-owner of @WrigleyRapport and you can follow him on Twitter @Craig_House3 where he will share in the frustration of each loss and revel in the winning. #GoCubsGo