Curse of 1969

During the 1969 baseball season, the Chicago Cubs were one of the major leagues' best teams. That year, they were in first place in the National League East Division continuously from Opening Day in April until September. They lost their division lead to the New York Mets and never regained it. The Mets won the division title and eventually became world champions. For Chicago, this was a devastating experience.

In 1984, the Cubs finally got their first National League East championship. They did this after taking over first place from the Mets on August 1. Their fans believed this achievement would lift the team to its first World Series since 1945. The ill memory of fifteen years earlier was believed to be forgotten.

However, the Cubs fell short of the "Fall Classic". There were factors related to 1969 that prevented their first National League pennant in 39 years. The team did not get to play in the Series in 1984 because of them.

Overview

1969 & 1984 National League seasons

The endings of the 1969 and 1984 National League seasons were interesting reversals of each other. In the Eastern Division, the Mets overtook Chicago to win the title in '69 and the Cubs did the same to New York in '84. In both years, first place in the East Division was clinched on September 24. Meanwhile, the San Diego Padres were the only team in the National League West Division with a won-lost percentage (.321) below the .500 mark in '69, their inaugural year. In '84, they were the only team in the West to have a percentage (.568) that was "above" .500. The two seasons concluded with opposite results in each division.

The 1969 impact

Like the Padres, the League Championship Series also came into Major League Baseball in 1969. In the best-of-5 NLCS of 1984, the Cubs won the first two games. They needed only one more victory for the pennant. Unfortunately for Chicago, the next three games were won by San Diego, putting "them" into the World Series instead. The Cubs and their fans were left with disappointment.

One difficult aspect of the loss in the NLCS is that the Cubs (96-66) had a better regular season record than the Padres (92-70). Having the best record in the National League, the Cubs would have been in the 1984 World Series if there was no NLCS to play. Furthermore, Padres' first baseman Steve Garvey was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1984 NLCS. Garvey's major league debut came in 1969.

A team, a post-season series and a player - all of which came into the major leagues in 1969 (a haunting year for Chicago baseball) - collectively kept the Cubs from winning the pennant.

All Cubs' curses

The Cubs have been plagued by other curses, too. One involves former New York Giants' player Fred Merkle, whose baserunning mistake eventually led to the Cubs' last world championship in 1908. Another has to do with a goat, which came along during the 1945 World Series, the last Series in which the Cubs appeared. The "Curse of 1969" had an impact on the misfortunes of the Cubs only in 1984.