MLB: Nine Very Cool Things to Look Forward to in 2017

Historic Times

For all but a tiny percentage of people in the world, the 2017 season will be the first time we can refer to the Chicago Cubs as “defending World Champions.” As everyone and his uncle knows by now, the Cubs broke their 108-year curse when they won the World Series last year over the Cleveland Indians (and extended Cleveland’s championship drought to 68 years, currently the longest in baseball). Only people at least 109 years old can say they were around the last time the Cubs were the defending champs.

According to Wikipedia, there are 34 people who are 110 years old or older in the U.S. They are called supercentenarians and 91% of them are female and 82% of them live east of the Mississippi River. The takeaway for those who want to live to be 110 years old is: don’t be a man and don’t live in the west. If you add in the handful of people who are 109 years old to this 34-person group of supercentenarians, you get a tiny sliver of the U.S. population. If you are one of the people who were around the year after the Cubs 1908 World Series championship, you’re in a very select club, and good for you for being on the Internet.

The rest of us are in uncharted territory. This year, for the first time in our lives, we can’t make fun of the hapless Cubs who always find a way to lose. The Curse of the Billy Goat is no longer a thing and the unfairly scapegoated Steve Bartman is off the hook. We’ve just had an off-season filled with stories about the Cubs and their long-suffering fans finally celebrating a championship and now we get to watch “Grandpa Rossy” bust a move in hideous MC Hammer pants on “Dancing With the Stars.”

The Cubs’ championship has already infiltrated America’s favorite game show. During the Jeopardy! College Championships in February, one of the clues was: “This young Cubs third baseman capped off a 2016 MVP season with 2 World Series home runs.” A college senior from LeHigh University, which is an 11-hour drive from Wrigley Field, responded with, “Who is Zobrist?” Of course, every Cubs fan knows that was the wrong answer (it’s Kris Bryant, for those playing at home).

So, baseball fans, unless you’re 109 years old, get out there and enjoy the first post-Cubs World Series championship season in your lifetime. And if you’re wondering how the season after the Cubs 1908 championship played out, you should know that the Cubs had a 104-win season, but still finished 6 ½ games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League. The Pirates then went on to beat the Detroit Tigers in the 1909 World Series. Maybe history will repeat itself, but I’d estimate the likelihood of that happening to be about the same as the likelihood that Grandpa Rossy wins “Dancing With the Stars.”