Chicago Cubs: Everyone talked dynasties in Houston & Chicago, not LA

We’ve all talked about prospective dynasties in the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs. Yet, somewhat quietly, the Los Angeles Dodgers have become one.

After an improbable, wildly unexpected run to the NLCS in 2015 followed by a World Series championship, the word ‘dynasty’ began to get thrown about fairly regularly on the North Side of Chicago. The Chicago Cubs further stoked those fires with a somehow disappointing return trip to a third consecutive National League Championship Series in 2017, where they fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

This season put an end to that sort of talk for many folks. And we can debate all day whether the Cubs have been a dynasty or even, if they were, if this season marked the end of that run. But that’s a discussion for another time. We’ve undoubtedly been experiencing the Golden Age of Cubs baseball. But somewhat quietly, the Dodgers have put together a staggeringly impressive run of their own.

Los Angeles has won six straight National League West titles – dating back to 2013. The Cubs have also won six division crowns – but to get to that half-dozen titles, you have to go all the way back to 1989.

Chicago Cubs: Comparing these two teams’ recent successes

For argument’s sake, let’s just look at the last four years. Now, before getting into this, you have to acknowledge – the Dodgers’ recent run of success spans far longer than those four campaigns. Los Angeles won 92 and 86 games, respectively, in 2014 and 2013.

Meanwhile, the Cubs’ rebuild under the guidance of Theo Epstein’s regime was still in the works. Chicago won 73 and 66 games in those same seasons. The North Siders never really turned the corner till 2015 – and when they did, it was out of nowhere.

The Dodgers haven’t seen a sub-.500 season since 2010 – when they went 80-82. That marks their only such campaign since 2006. Keep in mind that includes an overhaul of the baseball operations department similar to what we saw in Chicago.

Los Angeles went from a spend-big , rely on free agency mentality to developing more young talent and supplementing them with star power. The best part if you’re out in Hollywood? This team never missed a beat.

Chicago Cubs: Dodgers have made winning a long-held expectation

Since Epstein and Hoyer (and subsequently, manager Joe Maddon) took over in Chicago, things have changed for the better. There’s no debating that fact. Winning is no longer a far-off hope, but the expectation from year to year.

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With a month left in the regular season, the Cubs held a five game edge in the division. And a lot of fans, myself included, never panicked. We expected them to close it out and finish the fight, regardless of their offensive inconsistencies that spanned all season. We’ve just come to believe in these guys and what they’re capable of.

But, as we all know, that’s not what happened.

Chicago went 16-12 in the season’s final month. That culminated in their losing a tiebreaking Game 163 to the Milwaukee Brewers, who played out-of-their-minds ball in September. The Cubs went 2-5 against Milwaukee in their final seven matchups of the year – culminating in a heartbreaking end of the season.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles played catch-up for the overwhelming majority of 2018. But, when it mattered most, the Dodgers showed up. After a shoddy 14-13 month of August, Dave Roberts‘ club dominated down the stretch, going 18-9 in September to overcome the Colorado Rockies and win the National League West.