THEM AGAIN
If the Cubs thought ending a 108-year drought was tough, look at the history for repeat titles
MESA, Ariz. — For the Chicago Cubs, the 2017 mission is exactly the same as the 2016 mission: do something that they have not done since 1908.
Yes, they won the World Series last year. Now the Cubs will aim to repeat as World Series champions.
They won in 1907 and 1908, and then not again until 2016. When your team wins for the first time in 108 years, winning two in a row seems a little less imposing.
“It’s a challenge, but it’s a fun challenge,” Cubs General Manager Jed Hoyer said.
The St. Louis Cardinals lead the National League with 11 championships, but have never repeated. Neither have the Dodgers, with six titles. (The New York Yankees have won a record 27 titles out of the American League, repeating 12 times, most recently in 2000.)
“What was the last National League team to repeat?” Hoyer said. “The Big Red Machine?”
Indeed, the Cincinnati Reds did, in 1976. The New York Giants did, in 1922. And the Cubs did, in 1908. In the 113-year history of the World Series, the NL has produced a repeat winner exactly three times.
“It’s hard to win a World Series,” Hoyer said. “There’s a reason going back-to-back is incredibly difficult.”
In Joe Maddon, the Cubs have a manager with firsthand experience at that challenge. Maddon was the bench coach for the Angels when they won the World Series in 2002 — and when they finished eight games under .500 and 19 games out of first place in 2003.
“The biggest thing, the takeaway?” Maddon said. “Health.”
In 2002, all nine of the Angels’ starting position players had at least 450 plate appearances. In 2003, five did.
The starting pitchers stayed healthy, but the earned-run average of all five starters rose significantly. The rookie who won Game 7 of the 2002 World Series is now the 38-year-old sage of the Cubs’ staff.
“I was so young at the time,” John Lackey said. “I didn’t know what I was doing. I was just getting ready like it was a normal spring training. It’s a lot different now. I didn’t start throwing until the middle of January.
“You’ve still got to go to the gym and get in shape, but you give your arm a little bit of a break.”
The Angels’ 2002 postseason appearance was their first since 1986; no one in the starting lineup for the playoff opener had appeared in a postseason game. Mike Scioscia, the Angels’ manager then and now, said the extra month of play took its toll on the team, and not just physically.
“Guys are playing high-pressure games,” Scioscia said. “Sometimes it takes a while to unwind. Players were not really used to playing that far. Their rebuilding and working out started a month late.
“We had a lot of guys come into spring training just trying to get into shape and consequently we had a lot of injuries. Once we got over that — in ’04, ’05, ’07, ’08, ’09, all the years we won [the division championship], guys had a better understanding of, ‘Hey, we’re prepared for it.’ ”
The Cubs are prepared for the relatively quick turnaround, having advanced to the NL Championship Series the year before they won the World Series. They also won the NL Central by 171⁄2 games last season, providing ample opportunity for starters to get extra rest in the second half.
“We went to a six-man rotation for a bit,” Maddon said. “No contemporary starter digs that idea. But I’m here to tell you that, if you’ve got six starters that you like, use it. It’s really going to save your guys for the end of the year. I’m looking forward to doing that again this year.”
In defending their title, the Cubs — like the Angels back then — have kept the championship roster largely intact.
They got at least 29 starts from all five starting pitchers, one of two teams to do so, and they have an unusually young lineup for a champion.
And the Cubs got even younger, with 24year-old Willson Contreras playing ahead of 33-year-old Miguel Montero at catcher and three other kids — infielder Javier Baez, 24, and outfielders Albert Almora, 22, and Kyle Schwarber, 24 — slated to play prominent roles.
The franchise bats belong to first baseman Anthony Rizzo, 27, and third baseman Kris Bryant, 25.
Lackey gestured toward the rest of the clubhouse as he explained what he considered the biggest difference between the Angels, who could not repeat, and the Cubs, who might.
“The youth,” Lackey said. “We’ve got a bunch of young kids that aren’t tired. They’re ready to rock again.”
In 2013, Lackey and fellow Cubs starter Jon Lester were teammates on the World Series champion Boston Red Sox. In 2014, the Red Sox finished in last place, and Lackey and Lester were traded during the season.
If the Cubs do not win this year, Lester said he did not believe Chicago fans would be as tough on the Cubs as Boston fans were on the Red Sox.
“It’s the demand of the Northeast,” Lester said. “But the last two years, we’ve won 200 games, plus the playoffs and now the World Series. The expectation of a winning team is now there.
“I think we should be a very good team for a very long time, especially with all these young guys. That’s exciting for Chicago. It’s exciting for us. But just because we show up doesn’t mean we win it.”