The History of the Chicago Cubs: Every Era, from the First Season to Today
A walk through the Chicago Cubs in eras, from the 1876 White Stockings to the 2025 wild card, with the pennants, the three World Series titles, the 108-year gap and the managers and stars who defined each stretch.
The Chicago Cubs are a founding member of the National League, and their story has a strange shape. They won six pennants in their first fifteen seasons, four more between 1906 and 1910, five more between 1929 and 1945, and then nothing at all for seventy-one years. When the next one arrived in 2016 it came with a World Series title, the first since 1908. Across 150 seasons in the historical record, through 2025, the club's record is 11,419 wins and 10,837 losses, a winning percentage of .513. That is a franchise that has been slightly better than average for a century and a half, and which has told its story as a tragedy anyway.
The tragedy framing is half right. The Cubs have won only three World Series, in 1907, 1908 and 2016, and they have lost eight others. But the club has also been one of the best in baseball in specific, well-defined windows: the early Anson years, the Chance-Tinker-Evers years, the Hartnett years, and the Epstein-Maddon years. Each of those stretches had its own ballpark, its own style of play and its own cast of Hall of Famers. This article takes them in order.
The numbers below come from the historical record through the 2025 season. Anything that changes from year to year, such as the standings or the current roster, belongs on the live Cubs team page, which carries the record and the next game.
Four names in the first twenty-seven years
The franchise has had four names. The club was the Chicago White Stockings from 1876 to 1889, the Colts from 1890 to 1897, the Orphans from 1898 to 1902 and the Cubs from 1903 onward. The site's team file gives the founding year as 1874, which reflects the club's earlier National Association history; the National League record begins in 1876.
William Hulbert, the club's president, was the driving force behind creating the National League in 1876, and his team won its first pennant. The roster included Albert Spalding, who pitched and later built a sporting-goods company, and, from 1876, a young first baseman named Cap Anson. Anson stayed for 22 seasons and managed the club from 1879 through 1897. His totals with the franchise are still the top of the club's career lists: 3,012 hits, 1,880 RBI and 1,722 runs scored. As a manager he went 1,283-932 in 2,258 games, which makes him the most prolific manager the club has had by a wide margin.
Chicago won pennants in 1876, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1885 and 1886, which is six in the club's first eleven seasons. The 1885 and 1886 teams also played the St. Louis Browns of the American Association in what were then billed as championship series. The 1885 meeting ended level at three wins apiece and was never settled cleanly; St. Louis won the 1886 series four games to two. Those series are not counted among the club's World Series titles, which is why the official list starts in 1907.
Anson is also remembered for something the record book does not show. He was a leading voice in the period when professional baseball drew its color line, and any honest history of the White Stockings has to say so. The historical record includes Negro Leagues statistics for 1920 to 1948, but the exclusion of Black players from organized major-league baseball hardened in the 1880s and 1890s and lasted until 1947.
The Colts, the Orphans and a lost generation
The 1890s were lean. Anson, by then a veteran, kept the team respectable but never a pennant winner, and the club did not win a flag between 1886 and 1906. He left after the 1897 season, and the team that followed was called the Orphans. The low point came in 1901, when Chicago went 53-86 and finished sixth, which is the club's worst season of the early twentieth century in the historical record.
The park history of those years is a useful guide to the club's fortunes. The team played at the 23rd Street Grounds in 1876 and 1877, then Lake Front Park from 1878 to 1884, then West Side Park from 1885 to 1890. It moved to South Side Park in 1891 to 1893 and returned to a rebuilt West Side Park II from 1894 to 1915. That second West Side Park is where the first dynasty played, and its best season attendance, 665,325, came in 1908.
Pitching kept the club afloat. Bill Hutchison won 180 games for Chicago between 1889 and 1895, third on the club's all-time list, and Clark Griffith, who later managed New York in the American League, won 152 for Chicago between 1893 and 1900. What the club lacked was a unifying idea, and it found one in a first baseman who could manage.
1906 to 1910: the best team in the club's history
Frank Chance took over as player-manager in 1905 and the club went to work. His record with the franchise is 768-389 in 1,178 games, a .664 winning percentage that is the best of any Cubs manager with a meaningful sample. The 1906 team went 116-36, the best record in the club's history. It lost the World Series that year, in six games, to the crosstown White Sox.
The corrective came fast. In 1907 the Cubs went 107-45 and swept the Detroit Tigers, four games to none. In 1908 they won 99 games and beat Detroit four games to one, the last title for 108 years. They lost the 1910 World Series to the Philadelphia Athletics, four games to one, after a 104-50 season. These are the four pennants in five years that define the dynasty.
The infield was the famous part. Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Chance are all in the Hall of Fame, with 12, 12 and 15 seasons with the club respectively, and the sportswriter Franklin P. Adams made them immortal with a short poem in 1910. The pitching was better than the poem. Mordecai Brown won 188 games for the club between 1904 and 1916 and his career ERA with the franchise is 1.80, the best on the club's list for pitchers with 1,000 innings. His 48 shutouts with the club lead its record book. Jack Pfiester (1.85), Orval Overall (1.91) and Ed Reulbach (2.24) join Brown in holding the club's four best career ERAs among pitchers with 1,000 innings.
The 1908 pennant also came with the season's most famous controversy. In September, with the Giants and Cubs fighting for first, a play at second base in a game at the Polo Grounds, in which a young Giants runner failed to touch the bag, was ruled a force out. The game was replayed in October, and Chicago won it to take the pennant. That play is still known by the name of the baserunner, Fred Merkle, and it shows how narrow the margin was even in the club's best period.
Wrigley Field and five more pennants, 1916 to 1945
The park that defines the club moved into the picture in 1916. Wrigley Field opened in 1914 for a Federal League team and the Cubs moved in two years later, when the Federal League folded. The chewing-gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. took control of the club around 1920 and the park acquired his name in the 1920s. By the numbers, it has been the home park for every Cubs season from 1916 through 2025, a run of 110 seasons. Its dimensions in the site's data are 355 feet to left, 368 to left-center, 400 to center, 368 to right-center and 353 to right, with a capacity of 41,649. The ivy and the center-field scoreboard date to 1937. For the full story of the building see the Wrigley Field guide and the live Wrigley Field page.
The first Wrigley pennant came in 1918, in a season shortened by World War I; Chicago went 84-45 and lost the World Series to Boston, four games to two, in a series in which a young Babe Ruth pitched for the winners. Joe McCarthy managed the club from 1926 to 1930 and posted a 442-321 record, then left for the Yankees, where he became the winningest manager in that club's history. The 1929 pennant came with Rogers Hornsby at second base; Hornsby won the National League MVP that season. Hack Wilson, an outfielder, hit 56 home runs and drove in 191 runs in 1930, the RBI total still the highest in the historical record.
The Cubs lost the 1929 World Series to the Philadelphia Athletics, four games to one, and the 1932 World Series to the Yankees in a four-game sweep, the series where Ruth's famous "called shot" is placed. The club's next pennant came in 1935 with a 100-54 record, then ended in a six-game loss to Detroit. Gabby Hartnett, the catcher who won the MVP award in 1935 and ranks eighth in club history in home runs with 231, was player-manager when the club won the 1938 pennant. He is remembered for a late-September home run in the gathering dark, known as the Homer in the Gloamin', that helped the club overtake Pittsburgh. The Cubs lost the World Series that year to the Yankees, again by a sweep.
The last pennant of the old era came in 1945, in a season that was dominated by the wartime shortage of players. Chicago went 98-56 under Charlie Grimm and Phil Cavarretta won the MVP award, but the club lost the World Series to Detroit, four games to three. It is the series in which the "curse" legend began: a tavern owner and his goat were asked to leave Wrigley Field during a game, and the story grew into an explanation for the next seven decades. It is a legend, not a fact of baseball, and a wise reader treats it as such.
1946 to 1983: Ernie Banks and the long wait
The decades after the war were the club's worst. The Cubs did not win another pennant for 71 years after 1945, the longest drought in club history. They were rarely good. In 1962 the club went 59-103 and finished ninth, and in 1966 it repeated the 59-103 record and finished tenth. Those are the club's two worst seasons by winning percentage.
The club's stars were extraordinary. Ernie Banks played every season of his career with the Cubs, 1953 through 1971, and hit 512 home runs, second only to Sammy Sosa in club history. He won the MVP award in 1958 and 1959, a feat that is still rare for a player on a losing team. Billy Williams, the 1961 Rookie of the Year, hit 392 home runs and had 2,510 hits over 16 seasons. Ron Santo hit 337 homers and drew 1,071 walks, a total that is second in club history. Santo was elected to the Hall of Fame by a veterans' committee in 2012, two years after his death. Fergie Jenkins won 167 games and struck out 2,038 batters for the club, and he won the Cy Young Award in 1971.
The nearest miss of the era was 1969. The Cubs under Leo Durocher, who managed from 1966 to 1972 with a 535-526 record, finished 92-70 in the new NL East, but the New York Mets won 100 games and the division. The collapse is among the best-known in the game. The club's most notorious trade, the 1964 exchange of Lou Brock for pitcher Ernie Broglio, belongs to the same period; Brock became a Hall of Famer in St. Louis.
1984 to 2008: Sandberg, Sosa and near misses
The club came back to the postseason in 1984 under Dallas Green's front office. Ryne Sandberg, acquired in a trade with Philadelphia, won the MVP award, and Rick Sutcliffe won the Cy Young Award. The Cubs went 96-65 and won the NL East, then won the first two games of the best-of-five National League Championship Series against San Diego and lost the next three, finishing 2-3. Sandberg ended his career with 282 home runs, 2,385 hits and 344 stolen bases for the club.
The 1989 team won 93 games and the division, with Jerome Walton as Rookie of the Year, and lost the NLCS to San Francisco, one game to four. In 1988 Wrigley Field had installed lights, ending the park's long run as the last daytime-only home in the majors. In the 1990s the club was led by Mark Grace, who collected 2,201 hits, and Sosa, who hit 545 home runs for the club in 13 seasons. In 1998 Sosa hit 66 and won the MVP award in a home run race with Mark McGwire, who hit 70, and a 20-year-old rookie, Kerry Wood, struck out 233 batters and won Rookie of the Year. The club made the playoffs as a wild card and was swept by Atlanta.
The 2003 season is the one that still hurts. Under Dusty Baker the Cubs went 88-74 to win the NL Central, beat Atlanta in the division series, three games to two, and led Florida three games to one in the NLCS. They lost the last three. In Game 6 a foul ball was deflected by a fan, Steve Bartman, in the eighth inning, and the crowd and then the press blamed him for a collapse that also included a bad infield play. The truth is that the club still had Game 7, and lost it.
The Cubs won division titles in 2007 and 2008 under Lou Piniella, and were swept in the division series both times. The 2008 team set the club's all-time season attendance record at 3,300,200. In 2009 the Ricketts family bought the club.
The Epstein rebuild and 2016
In October 2011 the club hired Theo Epstein to run its baseball operations. The first year was grim: 61-101 in 2012, one of the five worst seasons in club history by winning percentage, and the club kept losing as it traded veterans for prospects. The patience paid off. Anthony Rizzo, who hit 242 home runs for the club between 2012 and 2021, was the early cornerstone. Kris Bryant was the 2015 Rookie of the Year and the 2016 MVP, and Jake Arrieta won the 2015 Cy Young Award. Joe Maddon took over as manager in 2015 and went 471-339 over five seasons.
In 2015 the Cubs won 97 games, finished third in a tough division, won the wild-card game against Pittsburgh and beat St. Louis in the division series, three games to one. The Mets swept them in the NLCS. Then came 2016. Chicago won 103 games and the NL Central, beat San Francisco in the division series, three games to one, and beat the Dodgers in the NLCS, four games to two. In the World Series the Cubs trailed Cleveland three games to one and won the last three, taking Game 7 in extra innings after a rain delay. It was the club's third title, and the first since 1908. For the full account see The Best Chicago Cubs Seasons and Every October Run.
2017 to 2025: from contenders to a reset and back
The 2016 team did not end the run. In 2017 the club won 92 games and the NL Central, beat Washington in the division series, three games to two, and lost the NLCS to the Dodgers, one game to four. In 2018 the club won 95 and lost the wild-card game to Colorado in 13 innings. In 2019 it went 84-78 and missed the playoffs, and Maddon left. The 60-game 2020 season produced a division title and a two-game sweep by Florida in the wild-card round. In 2021 the club went 71-91 and sold off the core at the trade deadline, sending Rizzo to the Yankees.
The reset was shorter than the one in 2012. By 2025 Craig Counsell, who had left Milwaukee to take over the Cubs after the 2023 season, had the club back in the postseason as a wild card. It went 92-70, beat San Diego in the wild-card round, two games to one, and lost the division series to Milwaukee, two games to three. Through 2025 the franchise had won 17 pennants and three World Series. Check the live Cubs page for anything after that.
The club in numbers
| Era | Years | Pennants | Titles | Defining figures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White Stockings | 1876 to 1890 | 6 | 0 | Cap Anson, Albert Spalding, William Hulbert |
| Colts and Orphans | 1891 to 1905 | 0 | 0 | The 1890s rebuild |
| The dynasty | 1906 to 1910 | 4 | 2 | Chance, Tinker, Evers, Mordecai Brown |
| Wrigley's early years | 1911 to 1928 | 1 | 0 | The 1918 pennant, Pete Alexander |
| The Hartnett years | 1929 to 1945 | 5 | 0 | Hornsby, Wilson, Hartnett, Cavarretta |
| The long wait | 1946 to 2015 | 0 | 0 | Banks, Williams, Santo, Jenkins, Sandberg, Sosa |
| The Epstein and Maddon years | 2016 onward | 1 | 1 | Rizzo, Bryant, Arrieta, Maddon |
The pennant totals sum to 17. The club's all-time leaders show the same spread: Anson leads in hits, RBI and runs, Sosa in home runs, Charlie Root in wins with 201 between 1926 and 1941, and Lee Smith in saves with 180.
Common questions
How many World Series have the Cubs won? Three: 1907, 1908 and 2016. They have lost the World Series eight times: 1906, 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938 and 1945.
What is the longest drought? The gap between the 1908 title and the 2016 title is 108 years. The gap between the 1945 pennant and the 2016 pennant, 71 years, is a separate record.
Who are the best Cubs of all time? Banks, Anson, Sosa, Williams and Santo are the leaders in the club's career lists. A fuller position-by-position view is in the Cubs all-time greats article.
What are the Cubs' division rivals? The NL Central also holds the Cincinnati Reds, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals. Their own histories are in the Reds history, the Brewers history and the Pirates history.
How many Hall of Famers have played for the club? The historical sheet lists 26 Hall of Fame players with four or more seasons in a Cubs uniform, and the early years supply many of them, from Anson to the Tinker-Evers-Chance infield. Later names include Banks, Williams, Santo, Sandberg, Jenkins and Greg Maddux, who won the 1992 Cy Young Award with the club.
Where to go next
For the club's October history in detail, read The Best Chicago Cubs Seasons and Every October Run, and for the way the World Series format has changed since the first Cubs title, see the history of the World Series. The live Cubs page has the current record and the next game, and the Cubs topic page gathers the latest news.