News Local/State

A Cub Fan’s Post-Mortem

 
A Cubs fan leaves Wrigley Field after Game 4 of the National League baseball championship series against the New York Mets 8-3 Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015, in Chicago.

A Cubs fan leaves Wrigley Field after Game 4 of the National League baseball championship series against the New York Mets on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015. The Cubs lost that game 8-3 in Chicago. David Goldman/AP

The World Series starts Tuesday night in Kansas City, and for the 69th straight year, it won’t involve the Chicago Cubs.  It’s also been 107 years since the Cubs last won the fall classic. Brett Taylor from the Cubs website Bleacher Nation says it’s taken a few days to recover from the team’s quick exit from the National League playoffs, losing four straight to the New York Mets after winning the wild card game and division series.

Taylor was in the center field bleachers as the season came to close Wednesday, quickly exiting the ballpark after the Cubs lost game four of the National League Championship Series 8-3.

Fans celebrate in Chicago's Wrigleyville neighborhood after the Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 in Pittsburgh, taking the NL Wild Card game.

Brett Taylor

"It was an interesting experience," Taylor said.  "You're at the tail end of a very exciting season that was very connected to the fans, being very excited about the players and the games, and you're at the end of this series that was one big punch in the gut."

Taylor said as of Friday, he'd still had trouble putting into context what happened to the Cubs in the NLCS after their Wild Card game win against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and taking the National League Division Series against their arch rival St. Louis Cardinals three games to one.

"That was the moment where you know that there's no magic psychic hold that the Cardinals have over the Cubs," he said. 

Taylor had been to a number of games late in the season, including the majority of the recent playoff games at Wrigley Field, including the Cardinals series.

"It was a good time to be there," he said.  "(There was a) fantastic energy all around town, and especially after the games.  Just that unbridled joy running out in the streets.  Just to be around that.  People haven’t had an opportunity to do that for so long.  It was just very nice to see and be around."

Taylor plans some more columns looking back at the Cubs' 2015 season this week.