Ranking every Chicago Cubs team since 2000

Chicago Cubs: There were several great teams, but one stands alone

8) 2020

Record 34-26

It was difficult to rank this one, since the 2020 COVID-shortened season was only 60 games. They won the division and were swept in the Wild Card round. Hard to compare this season to others, but they did win a division title despite an anemic offense.

7) 2007

Record 85-77

From worst to first, the 2007 team finished with a mediocre-ish record but they were able to clinch an NL Central title. Piniella’s squad started off very poor but they caught fire in the final months to clinch a postseason berth. Alfonso Soriano was signed to a big deal and Mark DeRosa fit in nicely with Lee and Ramirez. Sadly the Cubs were swept in the NLDS.

6) 2003

Record 88-74

Mark Prior and Kerry Wood led a surprising campaign to a division title and one win away from the World Series. Everything fell into place in the second half as they edged out the Astros in the NL Central. Their NLDS win was the Cubs’ first postseason series win since the 1908 World Series and the Cubs got as close as five outs from a pennant. Until 2016, they were the closest Cubs team to pennant since 1945. Despite the soul-crushing ending, it was a great year under Dusty Baker.

5) 2018

Record 95-68

It was heartbreaking seeing the offense break in the final weeks and the Brewers overtake the Cubs in 163 games. The Wild Card loss at home felt inevitable. That said, they still won 95 games as the starting pitching performed pretty well. Only 12 other teams in Cubs history finished with more wins. There were some epic wins, including two walk-off grand slams from Jason Heyward and David Bote, it just was not quite enough to win the division in the end.

4) 2017

Record 92-70

A World Series hangover in the first half of the season did not ruin the defending champ’s season in the end. A second-half surge got the Cubs another division title and they returned to the NLCS for the third straight year. Even if it felt nowhere near as good as 2016, it was still a memorable campaign in which they were three wins away from returning to the World Series. The 2017 season also marked the first time in franchise history which the Cubs made the postseason in three consecutive years.

3) 2015

Record 97-65

Joe Maddon’s first season saw the young Cubs shock the world. Kris Bryant came up and won NL Rookie of the Year, Jon Lester put up a very good first season as a Cub and Jake Arrieta put on a historic Cy Young-winning performance. While competitive in the first half, they went on a surge in the second half. The upcoming Cubs beat the Pirates in the Wild Card game and took down the rival Cardinals in the NLDS. It was obvious this team was special when Kyle Schwarber was hitting mammoth home runs in the playoffs.

2) 2008

Record 97-64

It really looked like this team was going to be “the one”. The offense of Lee, Ramirez, Soriano, DeRosa, Ryan Theriot, Geovanny Soto and Kosuke Fukudome scored 855 runs. The pitching staff dominated with a 3.87 ERA. They had a +184 run differential. The Cubs had eight representatives in the All-Star game and they finished with the most wins in a season since 1945. It was shocking to see this team get swept in such awful fashion in the NLDS. Despite the lackluster showing in October, this was the most dominant team we have seen in the past 22 years outside of our highest-ranked squad.

1) 2016

Record 103-58-1

100+ wins, 252 run differential, 3.15 team ERA, .772 team OPS, NL Central title by 17 1/2 games, NL Pennant and the franchise’s first World Series championship in 108 years. What else has to be said?

Cubs fans need to hope that the next 22 years are even better than the last 22 collectively. There were a lot of bad seasons but the highs were great. Hard to believe we are already two decades into the 21st century.