50 best MLB teams that didn’t win the World Series
97-64. Lost in the NLDS. 2008 Chicago Cubs. 45. player. 9.
After 100 years and many, many losing seasons, finally the Chicago Cubs had a team worthy of winning the World Series. The lovable losers were no longer losers at all – having raced to an impressive 97-64 record, which won the NL Central by an impressive 7.5 games over the Milwaukee Brewers and was the best record in the National League.
Following the disappointment of not winning a World Championship since 1908, having not even made it to the World Series since 1945, five years after the 2003 Cubs had the pennant ripped from Moises Alou’s glove and one season after the team was swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLDS, finally, 2008 was the year.
That is, until the Cubs broke their fans hearts once again. For the second straight season, the Central champs were swept in the NLDS, this time by a Los Angeles Dodgers squad that had won just 84 games in the regular season. A lineup that featured stars Derek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome and Mark DeRosa was no match for the Dodgers and scored just six total runs in the series. A pitching staff that posted a solid 3.87 ERA with starters Ryan Dempster, Ted Lilly and Carlos Zambrano, as well as closer Kerry Wood, couldn’t hold LA in check and allowed 20 runs.
After 100 years of disappointment, Chicago was once again forced to suffer through yet another season without a World Championship, or even an appearance in the Fall Classic. And it would be seven long years until the Cubs would make it back to the postseason for another opportunity to put an end to the streak.
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