Chicago Cubs: 11,000 wins, A franchise standard

And now, the one and only Chicago Cubs, ranked 2nd with 11,000 wins.

The Chicago Cubs were so bad for so long that it may be hard to imagine them as the second winningest franchise of all time. This is, after all, a team that only had eight winning seasons during the 46-season period between 1947 and 1992…six of those successively between 1967 and 1972.

That’s an average of just 72.9 wins per season for that nearly half century block..

In  truth, until recently the Cubs have been living off the glory accrued nearly a century ago. Founded in 1876, the franchise has 17 National League pennants including the first one. By the mid 1880s Chicago teams had won six of the 11 NL pennants. They had 1,000 wins by 1891, 87 more than any other franchise.

If anything, the first decade of the 20th  Century was even better. Between 1901 and 1910, Cubs teams averaged 91.8 victories per season, topping 100 wins four times and winning four pennants plus two World Series. By then they counted 2,538 victories and their franchise margin over the second winningest team had been extended to 278.

Through the 1920s and 1930s, the Cubs maintained their franchise pre-eminence. By the end of World War II, though, the handwriting was on the wall. During a miserable 59-103 1966 season,  they relinquished the all-time top spot for the first time, and they’ve since allowed the Dodgers to close in on them for second.

That competition for the number two slot has become more competitive in the past five seasons. Since 2015, the Cubs have averaged 94.2 wins, staying competitive with LA’s 97.0 average win total. Still, if LA picks up only three wins per season on Chicago, the Dodgers will replace the Cubs as No. 2 next year, if not this year.