It Took Theo Epstein Exactly 5 Years To The Day To Bring The Cubs To The World Series

One last post before we turn the page to the World Series. October 22nd 2011, the Chicago Cubs officially hire Theo Epstein (his press conference was a couple days later). October 22nd 2016, the Chicago Cubs clinch their first pennant in 71 years. Never in any of our wildest dreams would this rebuild have happened this quickly. It’s incredible to look back and fully grasp what happened. From a barren organization to NLCS Champs in just a short 5 years.

Just think about all the small moves that got us here, think about all the savvy decisions that Theo and Company executed when the Cubs were busy losing 100 games on the field. Tanking doesn’t work if you don’t make the right decisions in the draft and trade wire. Just rattling off the top of my head the deals are incredible looking back. Trading for Anthony Rizzo, finding value in Kyle Hendricks with the Dempster trade, drafting Kris Bryant (lol Mark Appel), trading Shark for Addison Russell when Shark was our only pitcher, drafting Schwarber when people thought it was a reach, trading Scott freaking Feldman for Strop and Arrieta, bringing in Zobrist and trading away Starlin which gave the team a more dependable teammate and a chance for Javy to shine, signing Jon Lester, getting Fowler to come back instead of signing with the Orioles, trading for Aroldis Chapman in the middle of this year, and it goes on and on and on.

Think about the small things like Mike Montgomery. When we traded for Mike Montgomery it was far from splashy. He is now one the most trustworthy and pivotal arms in the bullpen. It’s almost impossible to grasp what Theo has done. This team is so good and so young. There still is a huge hill to climb and 4 more wins to capture but if you don’t take a minute to enjoy what this front office has done then you’re doing yourself a disservice as a fan. One more Jaeger for the Cubs and Dorothy, now let’s go win a Championship.