CHICAGO – On November 2, 2016, the journey that took 108 years was completed, as the Cubs finally ended their championship drought with a World Series title.
Yet some could say that building towards that moment really took a little over five years, since it was in that timeframe that the team built up the club that would eventually beat the Indians in Game 7 of the “Fall Classic” on that night in Cleveland.
The starting point of that came ten years ago on Monday, when the architect of the rebuild officially arrived in Chicago.
That was October 25, 2011, when Theo Epstein was introduced as the new Cubs’ president of baseball operations. The former Red Sox general manager & executive vice president had aided that team’s ending of an 86-year championship “curse” in 2004 then another title in 2007.
After a late season collapse in 2011, Epstein decided to leave his hometown to attempt to do the same with the Cubs, who saw a championship window in 2008 shut tight in three years.
Introduced at a news conference at Wrigley Field, Epstein posed for pictures in the stands and near the ivy for photojournalists while conducting a host of interviews on how he’d build the Cubs into a contender. It was the initial step that would usher incredible success later in the decade, when the team made the playoffs five times, won three division titles, made three National League Championship Series, and that 2016 World Series title.
Larry Hawley reflected on the day of the hiring on Monday for WGN News Now, which you can watch in the video above.