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Looking Back at the Cubs’ 2016 Championship Eight Years On

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The Chicago Cubs’ 2016 World Series championship, 108 years after their last one, ended the longest title drought in American sports history. The seven-game series victory over the then-Cleveland Indians broke the curse and even let a certain guy named Bartman off the hook. Names like Bryant, Rizzo, Schwarber, Báez, Lester, Arrieta, and Chapman will live on in fans’ hearts for years to come. Looking back at the team that won it all offers some interesting takeaways that Cubs fans might keep in mind as the Cubs try to get back to the postseason.

Five Takeaways From the Cubs’ 2016 Championship Team

Good Players Need to Be Great, Great Players Need to Be Superstars

An Offense That Struck Early and A Stellar Defensive Core

The Cubs won 103 games during the 2016 regular season, many of them by lopsided scores. Their lead-off man and center fielder Dexter Fowler often set the table for a lineup that tended to score runs early in games. Fowler had one of his best years as a pro, slashing .276/.393/.447 with 79 walks against just 124 strikeouts in 456 at-bats.

He was part of a staunch middle infield along with shortstop Addison Russell and second baseman Javier Báez. Russell was another good player who had a great year with 21 home runs and 95 RBI and made the NL All-Star team. Meanwhile, Báez, “El Mago” as he’s called, performed feats never before seen on a baseball diamond.

Offensive and Defensive Leadership

But it was the Cubs’ corner infield that shined the brightest that year. Third baseman Kris Bryant and first baseman Anthony Rizzo led the team in nearly every offensive category. Bryant, the eventual NL MVP, slashed .292/.385/.554 with 39 home runs, 102 RBI, and 35 doubles. Rizzo slashed an almost identical .292/.385/.544 with 32 home runs, 109 RBI, and 43 doubles.

On the mound, it was the veteran Jon Lester and the 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta leading the way. It’s hard to parse out who performed better than who in the Cubs’ five-man rotation that season. Cubs starters combined for 79 of Chicago’s 103 wins, a 2.97 ERA, and a 1.07 WHIP. Lester led innings pitched (202 2/3), strikeouts (197) and wins (19). Arrieta was hot on his heels in each category (197 1/3, 190, 18).

Thanks to an other-worldly second half of the season, Kyle Hendricks led in ERA (2.13) and WHIP (0.979). He also tied Lester with two complete games, and Arrieta with one shutout. Veterans John Lackey and Jason Hammel were a steady presence for the North Siders as well. And let’s not forget Aroldis Chapman and Héctor Rondón‘s combined 34 saves in 41 attempts that year.

Every Champion Has Its Unlikely Heroes

Both Rizzo and Bryant had a great World Series (Rizzo’s OPS was 1.084) but there were some unlikely heroes as well. The aforementioned Addison Russell‘s grand slam in the third inning of game six felt like the call of destiny to Cubs supporters.

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Sure they were already up 3-0 at that point, but they were also facing elimination. Cleveland held a 3-2 series lead and they were playing on their home turf. Russell went 2-for-5 in that game with the home run, one run scored, and six RBI.

It seems as though every championship series has its unlikely hero. Freddie Freeman is a premier first baseman, but doubtless, no one expected him to be named World Series MVP in front of the likes of Ohtani, Judge, Soto and Betts. Freeman earned the honor after going 6-for-22 with a 1.364 OPS, four home runs, 12 RBI, and five runs scored in the Fall Classic.

“It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over”

Once again, Yogi Berra‘s famed line rears itself in the making of baseball history. After going down 3-1 in the Series, the Cubs managed to claw their way to victory. This wasn’t a surprise to anyone who had watched the Cubs play that season. They had the complexion of a team that was never out of a game until the last pitch was thrown.

The Cubs showed signs of that same stature early in the 2024 campaign. Whether it was injuries to Justin Steele, Cody Bellinger, and Seiya Suzuki, or just too good to be true will never be known. The result was another late-season flop, so the reasons matter little to the Cubs fan base.

Winning Ugly Is Still Winning

Although the Cubs had a nice mixture of veterans and young talent, the team could be excused for having some jitters. They certainly showed it down the stretch, committing three errors in Game 7 and five overall.

Then there was the much-maligned “misuse” of Aroldis Chapman by Cubs manager Joe Maddon. With the Series on the line, Maddon leaned hard on his flame-throwing closer for 5 1/3 innings of tough situational pitching in Games Five through Seven.

Maddon later confessed that he shouldn’t have sent Chapman back out to start the ninth inning of Game 7. After the big man faltered, Carl Edwards Jr. gave up a run, leaving the Cubs only a one-run cushion. Fortunately, Mike Montgomery forced a ground ball to third that ended the game and the Series drought for the Cubbies.

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Championships Don’t Always Beget Champions

Oddly, with all the promise the Cubs 2015 and 2016 seasons presented, very few of the players on that team have gone on to greatness. Of the entire group, only Jon Lester stands even a slight chance at consideration for the Hall of Fame.

Kyle Schwarber is one of the best sluggers in the game, but his fielding deficiencies have relegated him to the designated hitter role for the Philadelphia Phillies. Had the NL added the DH sooner, one has to wonder if the Cubs might’ve held onto Schwarber.

Anthony Rizzo came close to winning another World Series last season with the New York Yankees. Rizzo has over 300 home runs in his career, but back spasms have sidelined him for parts of his career. The same goes for Bryant, the second overall pick for the Cubs in 2013, who has struggled the past three seasons with the Colorado Rockies.

Other former first-rounders include Russell, 30 (#11 pick in 2012/Athletics), who is currently playing in the Mexican Baseball League, and Albert Almora Jr., 30 (#6 pick in 2013/Cubs), who hasn’t made a big league roster since being designated for assignment by the Cincinnati Reds in 2022.

The Last Word On the Cubs’ 2016 Championship Team

Baseball is a tough sport to play well consistently. That makes finding the players you need to win consistently hard to do as well. Still, the Cubs’ 2016 championship makes it a lot easier to stomach this long postseason drought, but only barely.

Current manager Craig Counsell thinks the organization should be building 90-win teams, and it’s a fair bet that Cubs fans agree with him, especially now that they’ve proven they can win a World Series. Counsell’s record-breaking signing should be a signal that President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer is serious about creating a perennial winner. It remains to be seen whether he has the right combination of luck and skill to pull it off.

 

Photo Credit: © Matt Marton-Imagn Images

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