Ten years later, Cubs would love to duplicate championship success

MESA, Ariz. — It has been 10 years already since the Cubs won a World Series.

Seems like it’s about time for another one.

Never mind that the organization once known as baseball’s lovable losers took 108 years to win one in 2016, its first since 1908. These 2026 Cubs can dream big again without being scoffed at.

But this outfit is a decade removed from the squad led by Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester that made front-page news when it celebrated a Game 7 victory Nov. 2, 2016, in Cleveland.

Cubs 2026 Opening Day starter Matthew Boyd was trying (and mostly failing) to beat Cleveland and watching closely as a member of a good Tigers team in ’16, but many of today’s Cubs were teenagers at the time and didn’t care all that much.

Matt Shaw was almost 15.

“I wasn’t a Cubs fan; I was a Red Sox fan, so I was like, ‘Whatever,’ ’’ Shaw said.

“To be honest, I didn’t really watch,” said right-hander Porter Hodge, also a Red Sox fan at the time.

“But I remember the iconic photo of Rizzo getting the last out [at first base on a slip-sliding throw from Bryant at third], stuff like that,” Shaw said. “I don’t remember being excited about it, though, to be honest.”

Nico Hoerner had no idea he’d be a Cub when he watched it from his dorm at Stanford.

“It was my sophomore year,” Hoerner said. “I was a baseball fan. It was kind of cool.”

How cool would it be to be in the middle of a dogpile at Wrigley Field this fall?

“Oh, my gosh,” Boyd said. “Even when we were in the wild card and Division Series last year, it was unbelievable. Talk to any guy here, they have a chills moment of what it felt like. Those home games, the fans chanting, ‘Freddy,’ when [Brewers ace] Freddy Peralta was pitching, unbelievable. We were really blessed to be there.”

Players, fans, ballpark workers and media inside Wrigley during the Cubs’ 2016 run won’t forget the enormous levels of energy and noise at every game. The Cubs are celebrating their 150th anniversary as a National League franchise but will stir 2016 memories when they also observe the 10-year anniversary this season.

A painted chalk wall memorializing fan inscriptions from the World Series celebration will be added to the left-field Budweiser bleacher concourse, a permanent monument will be installed to honor the Cubs’ three championship teams and a July 18 dedication ceremony with players and fans will celebrate the 2016 team.

Rizzo is throwing out the ceremonial first pitch Opening Day, moments before Boyd throws the first pitch that counts for 2026.

While with the Tigers in 2016, Boyd followed the Cubs closely because his late grandfather was born in Chicago and was a huge Cubs fan who said watching them win the World Series was one of the happiest moments of his life.

His grandfather wasn’t alone in that regard.

“It was cool for baseball,” Boyd said.

“Having success in Chicago would be something because the fan base is so ‘we love the Cubbies.’ It was something to be a part of last year, just getting a taste of the postseason, seeing the excitement level up every time we moved up with the next win.

“And that was only the DS; imagine what it would be like in the NL Championship Series and World Series.”

“It’s not a normal place, in the best way possible,” Hoerner said. “We got a glance at that last year, even just winning a first-round series against the Padres.”

Losing Game 5 might somehow pay off this season. The Cubs got swept by the Mets in the 2015 NLCS and came back feeding off the disappointment.

“There are two sides of having success but falling short,” Hoerner said. “You can draw positives from it. And it’s nice to have a group that’s held together pretty well from one year to the next.”