Chicago Cubs: Ranking all postseason series since 1984

Cubs History: There have been 14 different postseason series that the Cubs have played in since 1984.

Cubs History: It was 1969 when the postseason turned into a multi-round playoff system, and it took until 1984 for the Chicago Cubs to make their first NLCS-era postseason appearance. Since 1984 the Cubs have made the postseason 10 times and have participated in 14 multi-game series. That number of postseason series doubled from 2015-2017. Keep in mind this does not count Wild Card games.

In those 14 series, the Cubs are 6-8 with four of those series wins coming in 2015-2016. How do all of these series stack up against each other? We will be ranking each of these 14 series from worst to best. Criteria for these rankings include performance and overall success in the series. So while some series ended in great heartbreak like the 2003 NLCS, it will be ranked higher than the likes of the 2015 NLCS, which saw the team get swept. (Mini spoiler alert)

This list is, of course, very arbitrary and up for much debate, but this is what we came up with. Here are the 14 Cubs postseason series ranked against each other.

Cubs History: These series were so bad, they had a total of zero games won

#14: 2008 National League Division Series:

There is little doubt the 2008 NLDS was the worst postseason performance in team history. It was both shocking and mind-numbing. On the 100th anniversary of their 1908 World Series victory, the 2008 Cubs were looking to end their title drought after winning 97 games in the regular season.

Facing the 84-win Dodgers, hopes were very high on the North Side that 2008 would be the Cubs’ year. Hopes were quickly dashed as the Cubs, who looked unstoppable all year, got their behinds whooped. Not only did the Cubs get swept, they got outscored 20-6 while committing six errors in the three games.

They got outscored 17-5 alone in the two games at Wrigley Field.  Game 2 was particularly ugly when they lost 10-3 and committed four errors. It still is amazing to think how such a great team in the regular season took such a dive in the playoffs.

#13: 2007 National League Division Series:

The 2007 Cubs won the NL Central with 85 wins. This team was not nearly as good as they would be the next year in 2008, but the Cubs had an opportunity to take advantage of a pretty lousy league that year and go on a run. The Cubs would face the 90-win Arizona Diamondbacks.

Probably the most memorable moment of this season was Ted Lilly slamming his glove on the ground when giving up six runs in game two. It was an awful series for the Cubs, and it all ended in a frustrating game three loss when they grounded into five double plays and went 0-9 with RISP. Rich Hill gave up a first-pitch home run to Chris Young in that game three loss at Wrigley Field summed it all up. Overall they got outscored 16-6 in the three-game sweep.

#12: 2015 National League Championship Series:

It was a magical and unexpected run to the NLCS in 2015. While the young Cubs showed so much promise throughout the year, they met their match against the Mets in mid-October. To sum it up, the Cubs bats went cold (.164/.225/.297 team slash), and the pitching got rocked (5.56 ERA and 1.35 WHIP) as the Mets waltzed to the World Series. Daniel Murphy alone hit as many home runs in the series (4) as the entire Cubs team did.

At least they could say there were young and inexperienced. One could argue the team used it as a learning experience, and the World Series victory the next year washed away the sour taste in the mouths of the fans. Still does not mean it wasn’t a brutal series to watch.

#11: 1998 National League Division Series:

This was probably the least disappointing series loss. While the team won 90 games and got a historic season from Sammy Sosa, they simply were not good enough to make a postseason run. The 106-win Atlanta Braves showed that the 1998 NLDS was pretty much a “bye round” when they swept the inferior Cubs. It was kind of like the 8th seed in the NBA playoffs facing the in-prime Golden State Warriors or 90s Bulls.

The funny thing is the Cubs were closer to winning a postseason game in this series than in the other three series previously mentioned. Game two saw the Cubs lead 1-0 in the 9th with two outs separating them from victory when Javy Lopez homered to tie the game. The Cubs would lose in extras. After the final out of the series was recorded in a 6-2 loss at Wrigley Field, the fans stood and cheered to pay tribute to their team.

Cubs History: This set of series saw some of them end in brutal heartbreak, but at least the Cubs had their moments before bowing out

#10: 1989 National League Championship Series:

“The Boys of Zimmer” were an incredible fluke that won the 1989 NL East title. Though, dreams of a World Series were extinguished pretty fast when the Giants beat them in five games. The Cubs performance in the 89′ NLCS was pretty forgettable outside Mark Grace hitting .647/.682/1.118 with three doubles and eight RBI. Greg Maddux and Andre Dawson really struggled in the series, which was a major factor in the Cubs downfall. Meanwhile, Will Clark terrorized Cubs pitching with 13 hits and two homers in the series.

At least they won game two at Wrigley Field 9-5 when they chased former Cubs ace Rick Reuschel for five earned runs in the first. Them evening the series at 1-1 after that win at least gave hope to the North Side faithful that they had a shot at winning the pennant.

#9: 2017 National League Championship Series:

While defending their 2016 World Series title, the Cubs were looking to repeat in 2017 as they advanced to the NLCS for the third-straight year. By the time they got to the NLCS to face the NL-best 104-win Los Angeles Dodgers, the Cubs were running on fumes. Like 1989 they lost in five games, but this time they got their lone win in game four while trailing 3-0 in the series.

The series was pretty much over after Justin Turner’s walk-off homer in game two despite some still holding out hope when the series went to Wrigley Field. After falling behind 3-0, it was certainly over, even with the game four win. Los Angeles was just too good, and the Cubs were out of gas. In the end, it was just good seeing a defending champion Cubs team make another postseason run with an excellent final performance from Jake Arrieta. That is why the 2017 NLCS was ranked higher than the 1989 NLCS.

#8: 1984 National League Championship Series:

1984 saw the first postseason appearance for the Cubs in the NLCS era and first legit shot at a World Series title since 1945. A trip to the Fall Classic for the Cubs would go through the 92-win San Diego Padres. Back then, the NLCS was a best-of-five series that had the first two games take place at Wrigley Field and the final three in San Diego.

The pennant seemed like a sure thing when the Cubs demolished the Padres in the first two games of the series. Game one of the NLCS was a 13-0 whitewash with Rick Sutcliffe pitching a gem, the Cubs first postseason win since October 8th, 1945, and game two was a 4-2 win to bring them within one win of the World Series. Everything then went south. Behind Steve Garvey’s clutch hitting and Leon Durham’s error in game five, the Padres rallied and won the pennant. No need to go into the details, it’s too painful.

It was a brutal way to lose, but the Cubs got very close and had a legit shot at a pennant.

#7: 2003 National League Championship Series:

From 1946-2015 the Cubs won zero pennants, but 2003 was the closest they were to winning one. In an unexpected run, the 2003 Cubs were five outs away from the World Series against the Florida Marlins. The eighth inning collapse in game six was followed up by getting destroyed in game seven, resulting in coming up short of an NL pennant yet again.

However, this series saw some pretty cool things. They won games two through four to take a 3-1 series lead. Those three games included a Mark Prior gem in a 12-3 blowout win in game two, a thrilling extra-inning win on the road in  (the Cubs first-ever road win in an NLCS), and a first-inning grand slam by Aramis Ramirez in game four. It was a pretty impressive run until game five when they lost the final three games of the series. Luckily it does not sting as much now as it did before 2016.

Cubs History: The franchise finally started winning postseason series at the turn of the century

#6: 2017 National League Division Series:

The last postseason series the Cubs have won was just a few years ago in 2017. Winning 92 games as the defending champions, the road to repeating began in Washington D.C. against the 97-win Nationals, who were managed by former Cubs manager Dusty Baker.

Cubs took game one behind another postseason gem by Kyle Hendricks and took the lead in the series in game three at home, thanks to Anthony Rizzo’s bloop RBI single in the eighth inning. It all came down to a winner-take-all game five after the Nationals blanked the Cubs in Game 4. Game five was a crazy five-hour theater of madness, misplays, and video reviews, which required the Cubs to erase an early 4-1 deficit in the fifth inning and hang on the rest of the way by the skin of their teeth. It all ended when Wade Davis struck out Bryce Harper to seal a 9-8 victory.

The 2017 NLDS was the fifth postseason series win for the Cubs in three years. They had one from 1909-2014.

#5: 2003 National League Division Series:

It took the Cubs 95 years, but they finally won their first postseason series since 1908 in 2003 when they defeated the 101-win Atlanta Braves in the NLDS. Who would have thought the Cinderella 88-win Cubs could take down Greg Maddux and the Big Bad Bravos? Well, they did.

Kerry Wood’s arm and bat lead the Cubs to a game one win while Mark Prior pitched a complete game to beat Maddux in game three to take a 2-1 series lead. A potential celebration was sunk in game four as Chipper Jones went off to help the Braves force a game five in Atlanta. A good 30,000 Cubs fans showed up to Turner Field to watch Wood throw an eight-inning, one run masterpiece to help their team cruise to a 5-1 victory. Joe Borowski closed it out by striking out Andruw Jones. Crowds gathered in Wrigleyville to celebrate their postseason series win and a trip to the NLCS.

That was far and away the best postseason memory for the Cubs before 2015.

#4: 2016 National League Division Series:

The 2016 October journey to a World Series title began against the Wild Card San Francisco Giants. It featured a nail-biting 1-0 win in game one behind Jon Lester and Javier Baez, the thrashing of old pal Jeff Samardzija in game two, and an epic comeback in game four.

Of all the stories often told by the Cubs fans, it seems like this series is talked about the least. It kind of makes sense considering it was round one, but it was a historical series. Erasing a 5-2 deficit in the ninth inning of game four and winning 6-5 was the biggest postseason-clinching comeback in history. Heck, the one-loss the Cubs suffered featured the Jake Arrieta three-run shot off Madison Bumgardner. Mix in the Travis Wood home run in game two and Baez go-ahead shot in game one, and you got plenty of historical moments to talk about from the series.