Chicago Cubs: Breaking down the best and worst decades since 1900

The Chicago Cubs have had some decades of success, decades of failure and decades of mediocrity. How does each one stack up against each other?

One of the oldest franchises in North American sports has seen plenty of different levels of success. Sure the Chicago Cubs had a century-long championship drought, but even some decades were much more successful than others.

While the NL and official franchise records go back to 1876, the modern era began in 1900. So grouping these decades together will include all from 1900-2010s. We will rank them in three categories: best, worst and “meh”. Rankings will be based on numerous factors such as records, end results in postseason, titles/pennants and how the decades ended.

Of course, there will probably some debate over where to rank these, but that is part of the fun! We will start from worst and work our way up to first.

Chicago Cubs: Great players, not so great results

The1960s

How can a decade with four Hall of Fame players be in this list? “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins?? The 1969 Cubs was a great season until September and it made the Cubs relevant again.

Well, here is the thing. Despite those four legends the Cubs had a lot of terrible seasons that decade. It was the only decade they lost 100+ games twice in and saw them go 735-868-9 total. Outside 1969 they were never close to postseason contention.

Let us not forget the “College of Coaches” debacle…or the Brock for Broglio trade in 1964.

The 1990s

Kerry Wood‘s 20K game and Sammy Sosa hitting 60+ homers in 1998 and 1999 did not prevent this decade being on this list. Overall they went 739-813-1 in the 90s and saw most of the decade just being bad and flat boring. The team was dead before Sosa turned into a superstar and featured mainly Mark Grace and an aging Ryne Sandberg.

The results may not have been as bad as other terrible decades, but the badly needed spark at the end really helped boost the franchise back to relevancy. Not to mention the strike-days in 1994-1995 made everything around baseball uglier.

The 1940s

Outside the pennant in 1945, nothing was all too great about the 40s. A total record of 736-802-11, the Cubs only finished as high as third once other than 45 and finished 1948 and 1949 in last place. The haunting stories from the one World Series they saw during that time certainly did not give the Cubs of this era a reputation of glory.

Also worth noting that Norman Rockwell’s famous painting “The Dugout” depicting the lowly Cubs pouting in the dugout was created in 1948. Good summary of the decade.

The 1950s

Probably the only good thing that came out of this decade was the prime years of Ernie Banks. He became the first NL player ever to win back-to-back MVP awards in 1958 and 1959. Other than that…nothing but misery.

672 wins is their lowest decade win-mark in the modern era, they never finished above fifth place and the closest they were to a pennant was in 1959 when they finished 13 games back. Sparse crowds at Wrigley Field observed the Cubs lose day after day to no end. Owner P.K. Wrigley had good intentions for the fans, but never was a baseball man who could build a good team.

Chicago Cubs: Not too great, not too bad either

The 2000s

One could arguably put this in the category of best considering they had three division titles and their first postseason series win since 1908 in 2003. Yet, every time something good happened, it would just go immediately south.

It started off bad, then the promise of Mark Prior, Kerry Wood and Dusty Baker had them on the brink of the 2003 World Series. After the collapse the young stud arms got injured, drama ensued and Baker was gone after 2006. Then Lou Piniella came in and led them to division titles in 2007 and 2008…only to be swept out both times. Other years were either mediocre or terrible. They finished 807-811 in the 2000s. So much hype, but ultimately a disappointment.

The 1970s

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This one can be classified as one of the worst, however, the 1970s can also just be looked at as the most mediocre. They went 785-827-1 which is a .487 win percentage. It led to no postseason berths, and it saw the end of the Bank/Santo/Williams era, but six of those seasons they hovered around .500 and lost 90+ games only once.

Dave Kingman, Jose Carenal and Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter gave the fans some entertainment. Often forgotten is the 1977 season which the Cubs were in first for much of the year until falling towards the end and finishing 81-81.

The 1920s

This is probably the most successful decade not in the top five. The Cubs won the pennant in 1929 only to lose to Connie Mack‘s Athletics in the World Series. They went 807-728-9 in the 20s and had a number of winning seasons, just not good enough to be the top-dogs. It had its share of Hall of Famers suit up for the Cubs including Hack Wilson, Joe McCarthy and Pete Alexander.