Mets complete sweep of Cubs to reach World Series

Back To The Future II was right: Cubs sweep, Cubs sweep!

Some buds owe me deep-dish pizza for losing their friendly wagers, yummy!

Cubs should really avoid going into the playoffs against anything to do with the name "Murphy":

1908 - the last time the Cubs won the World Series, their owner's name was Murphy, whom the team didn't invite to the celebration dinner (and probably cursed them for it since.......)

1945 - it took 37 years for the Cubs to return to the World Series, when they wouldn't let in to their stadium a patron's goat - and the name of the goat? Murphy. And the curse of the billy goat hasn't let them back into a World Series ever since.

1984 - in the NLCS, Cubs took a commanding 2-0 games lead after winning both home games against the San Diego Padres, but then went to San Diego's stadium and promptly lost 3 straight games and the series. The name of the Padres stadium? Jack Murphy stadium.

2003 - the infamous Bartman ball incident in the NLCS. The last year of the Padres' Jack Murphy Stadium, and the year the Ig Nobel Prizes finally honored the famous principle known as "Murphy's Law". What's Murphy's Law? "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." Which brings us to......

2015 - Cubs becomes the first MLB team ever to sweep an opponent in the regular season (7-0 against the Mets) but be swept by the same team (0-4) in the playoffs. Never even once got a lead in the NLCS series, due to of course Daniel Murphy.

1945 - it took 37 years for the Cubs to return to the World Series

Entertaining as the rest of the anecdotes are (well, not so much for us Cubs fans), this part is not true. After their two victories, they went to the World Series again in 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, and 1938.

As far as I know, Charley Murphy was a great owner who didn't hesitate to spend big money on top quality players, which is why the team won two World Series under his ownership. This was a rarity in an era of tight-fisted owners such as the White Sox' Charlie Comiskey, whose stingy salaries were one reason why several of their underpaid players took money from gamblers to throw games. I had never heard anything about him not being invited to their dinner; perhaps it was supposed to be a players-only thing?

Entertaining as the rest of the anecdotes are (well, not so much for us Cubs fans), this part is not true. After their two victories, they went to the World Series again in 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, and 1938.

Ah, you're right, my error.

I had never heard anything about him not being invited to their dinner; perhaps it was supposed to be a players-only thing?

The Cubs owner at the time, Charles Murphy, was an unpopular figure among Cubs players and league owners. When he wasn’t invited to the Cubs' 1908 World Series celebration party, he retaliated by writing an angry letter to the editor to several newspapers criticizing the instigators. Murphy then sold the team just 5 years later.