A resident of Glenview, Illinois, Benjamin (Ben) L. Schwartz is working toward a journalism degree at Ohio University and seeking a journalism internship in the Chicago region. When not studying and refining his skills as a journalist, Ben Schwartz enjoys following Chicago Cubs baseball.

The Chicago Cubs’ history in Major League Baseball (MLB) dates back to the franchise’s inaugural season in 1876, when it was known as the Chicago White Stockings. After adopting the Cubs name in 1903, the team contested three consecutive World Series between 1906 and 1908, with a loss to the Chicago White Sox in 1906 followed by back-to-back wins over the Detroit Tigers in 1907 and 1908. The franchise’s 1908 World Series victory would remain its most recent for more than a century.

The Cubs returned to the World Series in 1910, posting a 104-50 regular-season record in that year before falling in five games to the Philadelphia Athletics in the championship series. The franchise would lose out on six additional opportunities at a third World Series between 1918 and 1945, none more disheartening than a loss in seven games to the Tigers that dropped its World Series record to 2-9.

The difficulties for the franchise only worsened after 1945, as what followed was a nearly four-decade postseason drought, one that did not end until 1984 with the Cubs advancing to the National League Championship Series (NLCS). Falling to the San Diego Padres that year, the Cubs proceeded to reach three additional NLCS contests over the next two decades, losing on each occasion, including in 2015.

The following season, the Cubs reversed their fortunes. The team won 103 games, its best regular-season mark since 1910. In the playoffs, the Cubs overcame the San Francisco Giants in a division series before defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in a six-game NLCS. Competing in the franchise’s first World Series in more than seven decades, the Cubs survived a memorable seven-game series with the Cleveland Indians, bouncing back from a three-games-to-one hole. The World Series win brought an end to Chicago’s historic 108-year title drought.