Remember the last time the Chicago Cubs won 90+ games four seasons in a row? No, you do not!
By: Alex Patt
The Chicago Cubs clinched their fourth-straight season winning at least 90 games (2015–2018). While there is still work to be done to clinch the NL Central, this is a pretty impressive accomplishment.
In an earlier article, we discussed the run the Cubs have gone under manager Joe Maddon. It is safe to say no Cubs fan living has seen this kind of run before. The Cubs have not gone four-consecutive seasons winning at least 90 games since their incredible run from 1904–1912. That’s right, it has been over 100 years since they have accomplished something like this.
From 1913 through 2014, the Cubs won 90+ games 12 times. Only twice did the accomplish the Wild Card era in that span and only had consecutive seasons of 90+ wins from 1928–1930, way before the divisional era. That span was matched in 2017, as the 2018 broke that. Keep in mind that the Cubs from 1969–2014 saw five division winners and three of those won over 90 games. If they win the NL Central this season, they will match the number of 90+ win division winners in three years that they had 45 years.
So lets go back to that 1904–1912 run. It was a very different game back then in a very different time. Nine years of 90+ wins in a National League that had eight teams total. What else was it like the last time the Cubs won at least 90 games in at least four seasons? Here is an interesting list:
- Wrigley Field did not exist, they played on Chicago’s west side
- Seven of those teams were managed by Hall of Famer Frank Chance, who played while he managed
- Mordecai Brown from 1904–1912 pitched to a 1.75 ERA with a 0.992 WHIP and 1022 strikeouts in 2,280.2 innings
- Tiger Stadium, Comiskey Park and Fenway Park were just being built
- When the streak started in 1904, the Washington Senators went a dismal 38–113. Yikes
- Yankees (then called the Highlanders) had yet to win a World Series
- The MLB All Star game would not exist for another 20 years after the streak ended
- Babe Ruth had not joined the majors yet
- Jackie Robinson was not born yet
- Automobiles and electricity was still in its infancy
- Kris Bryant would not be born for another 88 years when the streak began in 1904
- Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams were not born for several decades after
- Two of their three total World Series wins came during this span
- No televisions existed, an old joke about the Cubs pre-2016 drought
- Teddy Roosevelt and William Taft were the Presidents during that span
