“The Loveable Losers” has been one of the Chicago Cubs nicknames for years. They are a team loved by many people, but they are normally on the losing side of the MLB. It’s not just recent years that have been bad, they have been bad for a while. They have made the playoffs in the past but in recent years they haven’t gone far enough to win a World Series. The history speaks for itself.

The Cubs are repeatedly the laughing stock in the MLB because they haven’t won a World Series since 1908. The only other World Series they won was in 1907. I highly doubt anyone that went to any of those two World Series are even still alive. Since their last win in the World Series they have been to seven other World Series and have lost them all. The last time they even made it to the World Series, was in 1945 when they lost to the Detroit Tigers.

The last time the Cubs made the playoffs was in 2008. That year they went 97-64 but they lost in the National League Division Series. It seems that even when they are good (which rarely happens) they aren’t good enough. The Cubs ended this season with a very mediocre 73-89 record.The Cubs can never really be that good because once they get someone that plays well, he then normally gets traded.

Last year the Cubs traded Alfonso Soriano who was a seven time All-Star player to the New York Yankees. Trading him was a bad decision considering he was playing so well. This year the Cubs traded pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel, who both were having great seasons. Jeff had a 2-7 win/loss record and a great 2.83 ERA before being traded to the Oakland Athletics (which isn’t very good but he was on a worse team). He was selected to play in the All-Star game, but he couldn’t play because he was traded. Jason had a great start to the season before being traded to the A’s with an 8-5 win/loss record and a 2.98 ERA.

Hopefully, two-time All-Star shortstop Starlin Castro and first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who was an All-Star this year, can lead the Cubs to the playoffs sometime soon. There has been a lot of struggle for the Cubs in the past, but fans will never forget the impact of Ron Santo, Ryne Sandberg, Billy Williams, Ferguson Jenkins, Greg Maddux and especially Ernie Banks.

If the pieces in the puzzle can all fit together, then maybe next year the Cubs can be a good team, like they were in 2007 and 2008. The Cubs are not a good team, but with improvements they should be able to make the playoffs. I am not saying they will be amazing and win a World Series anytime soon, but they should be a decent team in the future.