Latest MLB poll confirms painful truth about the Chicago Cubs’ history

If there’s one thing sports fans love to do more than anything else, it’s to debate. Fans love to debate what team is better, who the better player is, who will be a better player in the future, you name it. 

Baseball is no different, as demonstrated by The Athletic’s Jayson Stark, who recently stoked the fire by assembling an “All-Quarter Century Team”. Stark’s article (subscription required) compiled a roster of who he believed to be the best players in baseball since the year 2000. 

While many were quick to make their observations on the list or propose a different player, Cubs fans quickly noticed one thing in particular about Stark’s team.

There is not a single player from the Chicago Cubs on his list.

This shouldn’t necessarily come as a surprise. The Cubs found themselves burdened by the Curse of the Billy Goat for a majority of the new millennium, only shedding the mantle of the “Lovable Losers” in 2016. 

The Cubs have only made the playoffs eight times since 2000, with five of them coming in a six-year stretch from 2015-2020, highlighted by the team’s magical World Series run in 2016. However, even considering their success in the late 2010s, the Cubs' record since 2000 is just 2000-1998, only two games above the .500 mark and sixteenth in all of Major League Baseball.

The Cubs boasted one of the best young cores in all of baseball during their championship window, with hitters like Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez joining 2016 National League MVP Kris Bryant. Pitchers like Jon Lester and 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta helped to anchor what was once one of the best rotations in the league at one point. 

Sadly, none of these players had enough sustained success over a long enough period of time to be considered for this list. 

As the Cubs prepare to enter their next competitive window, they will look to play a bigger part in the next quarter-century list. As it stands, Pete Crow Armstrong represents their best chance to do so, quickly turning into one of baseball’s budding superstars in a breakout campaign.