If and when the Cubs are eliminated from world championship contention this autumn by an inferior team, their heartsick fans need to keep something in mind: the defeat will have nothing to do with karma, or a curse, or the gods amusing themselves at Chicago’s expense.
Today’s pennant winners might not have been best over the duration, and they might not even have been best when the season came to a close. But they got got hot—and lucky—in the playoffs and survived them. There probably were better teams, but those did not.
The 2016 Cubs will wind up with more than 100 wins and the best record in baseball. Last year’s Cardinals won 100 games and, as everyone in Chicago remembers, didn’t survive their first round of the playoffs. The 2005 Cardinals won 100 games and didn’t reach the World Series.
