Cubs Were the Third(?) Best World Series Team in the Last 25 Years and Other Cubs Bullets

The real rut has kicked in, as I am finding it very difficult to stick to versions of routine right now. Exercise? Whiff. Eating healthy? Whiff. Meditating? Whiff. Gotta break back outta this cycle.

  • The Marquee World Series rewatch reached Game 6 last night, which was such a fun game. After pulling out the keep-hope-alive win in Game 5 – remember the stress of that slow burn game? – I cannot tell you what a surge of energy I got from the Kris Bryant homer, and then especially from the Indians outfield goof (and Ben Zobrist truck):
  • https://twitter.com/watchmarquee/status/1244779502552612867?s=21

  • I was at home watching this one, and as soon as that first inning played out, I started gathering up my stuff for a possible trip back to Chicago overnight. I knew I had to be there – there in Wrigleyville – if there was a Game 7. When Addison Russell hit his 3rd inning grand slam, I turned to The Wife and said, “Well, I gotta go.” And I did. I think I got to Chicago about 3 am, after stopping partway to watch the hellish final couple innings (remember that mess? with Aroldis Chapman being inexcusably hung out to dry, with no one warm for the 9th, etc.?).
  • Of the eventual World Series win, MLB.com ranked the Cubs the third best World Series winner in the last 25 years, which is pretty darn good when you think about it – by definition, all 25 teams were probably pretty darn good. We joke about the “people forget that” thing (no one will ever forget the Cubs winning the World Series, obviously – that’s the stupid joke), but sometimes I wonder if we *DO* temporarily forget that the 2016 Cubs were also just a historically good team. They arguably had the best defensive production of all-time, they had two Cy Young finalists (and neither was Jake Arrieta), they had a hilariously deep bench, and they had a lineup so loaded that it didn’t even miss Kyle Schwarber’s production during the regular season … but they do get to include him for the World Series team. Add in a shut-down closer, and it was just a near-perfect team. You will not see many better-constructed clubs, which is why they are third best among the last 25 World Series winners.
  • I won’t even beef about the two teams ranked ahead of the Cubs – the 1998 Yankees were arguably the best team over the last 50 years, and the 2018 Red Sox were at least as loaded as the 2016 Cubs across the board. I guess you could beef that those 2018 Red Sox were cheating using video, so … actually … Cubs are number two.
  • Kyle Schwarber was a guest on the Cubs’ players’ podcast:
  • We didn’t get a Cubs home opener yesterday, but I definitely enjoyed thinking back on one of the best Cubs home opener moments in my lifetime – it was one of the loudest cheers at Wrigley that I can remember (and I choose to forget what happened in extra innings):
  • Fukudome, who turns 43 next month, was still playing in Japan as of last year (.256/.347/.394), by the way. Good on him.
  • Suffice to say it is a very challenging time to be in the baseball publication space and it’s likely going to get more challenging before it gets better. Keep shops like FanGraphs in mind when perusing the web right now, because we cannot let the places we love fold right now:
  • (If you’re wondering, yes, we’ve been hammered over the past month, and we will continue to be hammered for the foreseeable future. Basically no one is immune from the impact of this situation, and sports sites admittedly have it particularly rough. But we’re committed making it through this period of time and coming out as happy and sporty as ever on the other side. Please keep on visiting BN, telling your friends, not using an ad blocker (we already limit our ads far more than most places!), etc. Basically, please keep doing your normal thing here and we’ll keep trying to do the same.)
  • Great news for Bulls fans who desperately need something new and happy and sports in April:
  • Javy Báez had absolutely no business making this play for two reasons, but he’s El Mago:
  • One method, and one signal, but if you want something that skews positive:
  • And a positive, correlative message from the Cubs:
  • Peruse some Amazon devices that may assist with your home life at the moment. #ad
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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