The success and fame of the Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869, or 1870, baseball's first openly all-professional team, led to a minor explosion of openly professional teams in 1870, each with the singular goal of defeating the Red Stockings. A number of them adopted variants on that name and color, and it happens that Chicago adopted white as their primary color. On April 29, 1870, the team played their first road game against the St. Louis Unions, defeating the Unions 47-1.[1]
After a summer of individually arranged contests among the various teams, the time was right for the organization of the first professional league, the National Association, in 1871.
The Chicago White Stockings were close contenders all summer, but disaster struck in October 1871 with the Great Chicago Fire, which destroyed the club's ballpark, uniforms, and other possessions. The club completed its schedule with borrowed uniforms, finishing second in the National Association, just 2 games behind, but it was compelled to drop out of the league during the city's recovery period until being revived in 1874.
After the 1875 season, Chicago acquired several key players, including pitcher Albert Spalding of the Boston Red Stockings, and first baseman Adrian "Cap" Anson of the Philadelphia Athletics. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the club president, William Hulbert, was leading the formation of a new and stronger organization, the National League.
With a beefed-up squad, the White Stockings cruised through the National League's inaugural season of 1876. The Chicagoans went on to have some great seasons in the 1880s, starting with 1880 when they won 67 and lost 17, for an all-time record .798 winning percentage. Extrapolating an 84-game season onto a 162-game season is a dubious proposition, but it does provide some perspective to note that a similar winning percentage nowadays would yield 129 wins.
By then, Spalding had retired to start his sporting goods company. The length of the season was such that a team could get by with two main starters, and the team had a couple of powerhouse pitchers in Larry Corcoran and Fred Goldsmith. Those two were fading by mid-decade, and were replaced by other strong pitchers, notably John Clarkson. Much has been written about Old Hoss Radbourn's 60 victories for the Providence Grays of 1884, but Clarkson also had a fair year in 1885, winning 53 games as Chicago won the pennant.
A second major league, called the American Association, came along in 1882, and Chicago met the American Association's champions three times in that era's version of the World Series. Twice they faced the St. Louis Browns in lively and controversial Series action. That St. Louis franchise, which went on to join the National League in 1892 after the American Association folded, would later be renamed the St. Louis Cardinals and continues to be a perennial rival of the Cubs.
During this period the team was captained and managed by first baseman Cap Anson, one of the most famous and arguably the best player in baseball in his day. He was the first ballplayer to reach 3,000 hits. (Anson's actual number of hits varies depending on the source. He played in some de-facto leagues which some historians count as actually being minor league play, and at the time walks counted as hits in some leagues. MLB itself does in fact recognize Anson as having over 3,000 hits.)
After Chicago's great run during the 1880s, the on-field fortunes of Anson's team (by then often called "Anson's Colts" or just "Colts") dwindled during the 1890s, awaiting revival under new leadership.
The Cubs are the only team to play continuously in the same city since the formation of the National League in 1876. The other surviving charter member of the National League, the Braves, have played in three cities: Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta. The White Stockings were called the Chicago Colts and the Chicago Orphans for brief periods before becoming the Chicago Cubs, and the name White Stockings was adopted by another Chicago team, which still uses a variation of the name to date.
Golden years

The 1906 Cubs won a record 116 games in a 154 game season. The club then won its last World Series title in 1908
Joe Tinker (shortstop), Johnny Evers (second baseman), and Frank Chance (first baseman) were three legendary Cubs infielders who played together from 1903 to 1910, and sporadically over the following two years. They, along with third baseman Harry Steinfeldt, formed the nucleus of one of the most dominant baseball teams of all time.
After Chance took over as manager for the ailing Frank Selee in 1905, the Cubs won four pennants and two World Series titles over a five-year span. Their record of 116 victories in 1906 (in a 154-game season) has not been broken, though it was tied by the Seattle Mariners in 2001, in a 162-game season. The 1906 Cubs still hold the record for best winning percentage of the modern era, with a .763 mark. However, they lost the 1906 World Series to their crosstown rivals, the Chicago White Sox.
The Cubs again relied on dominant pitching during this period, featuring hurlers such as Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown, Jack Taylor, Ed Reulbach, Jack Pfiester and Orval Overall. The Cubs' pitchers posted a record for lowest staff earned run average that still stands today. Reulbach threw a one-hitter in the 1906 World Series, one of a small handful of twirlers to pitch low-hit games in the post-season (another was Claude Passeau of the Cubs' 1945 squad). Brown acquired his unique and indelicate nickname from having lost most of his index finger in farm machinery when he was a youngster. This gave him the ability to put a natural extra spin on his pitches, which often frustrated opposing batters.
Some experts believe the Cubs could have been in the Series for five straight seasons, had their great catcher Johnny Kling not sat out the entire 1909 season. He had temporarily retired to play professional pocket billiards, but his primary reason for not playing was a contract dispute. His absence hurt the stability of the pitching staff. When he returned in 1910, the Cubs won the pennant again, but the veteran club was unable to defeat the powerful young Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series.
The infield also attained fame. After turning a critical double play against the New York Giants in a July 1910 game, the trio was immortalized in Franklin P. Adams' poem Baseball's Sad Lexicon, which first appeared in the July 18, 1910, edition of the New York Evening Mail:
These are the saddest of possible words:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."
Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,
Tinker and Evers and Chance.
Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
Making a Giant hit into a double--
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."
At that time, the Giants and the Cubs were two of the league's strongest teams. "Gonfalon" is a poetic way of referring to the league championship pennant that both clubs were symbolically fighting for. The expression "Tinker to Evers to Chance" is still used today, and means a well-oiled routine or a "sure thing".
Tinker and Evers reportedly could not stand each other, and rarely spoke off the field. Evers, a high-strung, argumentative man, suffered a nervous breakdown in 1911 and rarely played that year. Chance suffered a near-fatal beaning the same year. The trio played together little after that. In 1913, Chance went to manage the New York Yankees and Tinker went to Cincinnati to manage the Reds, and that was the end of one of the most notable infields in baseball. They were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame together in 1946. Tinker and Evers reportedly became amicable in their old age, with the baseball wars far behind them.

The Cubs fell into a lengthy doldrum after their early 1900s Glory Years, extending through the 1916 season. That year, advertising executive Albert Lasker obtained a large block of shares and soon acquired majority ownership of the Cubs.
As owner, Albert Lasker acquired the services of astute baseball man Bill Veeck, Sr. The club responded by winning a pennant in the war-shortened season of 1918, where they played a part in another team's curse, The Curse of the Bambino. In the 1918 World Series, the North Siders, who had posted the majors' best record at 84-45 that year, faced the Boston Red Sox. Babe Ruth won two games in the series, including a 1-0 complete-game shutout in the opener to start off what would be a six-game Boston triumph. At the time considered a star pitcher who "just happened" to hit 29 home runs, Boston then sold Ruth to the Yankees a few weeks after the series, starting their own tale of futility, which lasted for 86 years.
Following the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, which led to yet another "curse" on the south side of Chicago, baseball in the city fell into very dark times and Lasker worked to create a new governing authority for Major League Baseball that led to Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis becoming the first Commissioner of Baseball. During this time, Lasker's friend, chewing gum manufacturer William Wrigley, Jr. acquired an interest in the team and in 1925 Lasker sold Wrigley his controlling interest. [1] The Cubs themselves, despite Wrigley's monetary contributions, would settle into a trend of "near missing" that would continue for years to come.

Hack Wilson hit .356 with 56 home runs and 191 RBI for the Cubs in 1930. Some call this the best season by any player in MLB history.
With Wrigley's money and Veeck's savvy, the Cubs were soon back in business in the National League, the front office having built a team that would be strong contenders for the next decade. During that stretch, they achieved the unusual accomplishment of winning a pennant every three years - 1929, 1932, 1935 and 1938 - sometimes in thrilling fashion, such as 1935 when they won a record 21 games in a row in September, and 1938 when they won a crucial late-season game with a game ending home run by Gabby Hartnett, known in baseball lore as the "Homer in the Gloamin'."
Unfortunately, their success did not extend to the post-season, as they fell to their American League rivals each time, often in humiliating fashion. One example was in game 4 of the 1929 World Series when the Cubs, leading by 3 at the time, yielded 10 runs to the Philadelphia Athletics in the seventh inning. A key play in that inning was center fielder Hack Wilson losing a fly ball in the sun, resulting in a 3-run inside-the-park homer. In the 1932 World Series, Ruth again torched the North Siders, when he led New York in a series win in which he hit his famous "Called Shot" home run in Chicago.
Since their last World Series win in 1908, the Cubs have appeared in and lost seven World Series. By the late 1930s, the double-Bills (Wrigley and Veeck), were both dead, and the front office under P.K. Wrigley was unable to rekindle the kind of success that P.K.'s father had created, so the Cubs slipped into mediocrity. The Cubs enjoyed one more pennant, at the close of another World War. Due to the wartime travel restrictions, the first three games were played in Detroit, where the Cubs won two of them, and the last four were to be played at Wrigley. In game 4 of 1945 World Series, the Curse of the Billy Goat was laid upon the Cubs when Mr. Wrigley ejected Billy Sianis, who had come to game 4 with two box seat tickets, one for him and one for his goat. They paraded around for a few innings, but Wrigley demanded the goat leave the park due to its unpleasant odor. Upon his ejection, Mr. Sianis uttered, "the Cubs, they ain't gonna win no more." The Cubs lost game 4, lost the 1945 World Series, and have not been back since. It has also been said that Sianis put a "curse" on the Cubs preventing the team from making it back to (not actually winning) the World Series.

After the Curse of the Billy Goat, a few years into the post-World War II era, astute observers of the game began to suspect that something had gone wrong with the Cubs franchise, and that it might take them a long time to recover. In his 1950 book The World Series and Highlights of Baseball, LaMont Buchanan wrote the following prose next to photos of Wrigley (apparently taken during the 1945 World Series) and of their newly hired manager:
"From the sublime to last place!
Wrigley Field, the ivy of its walls still whispering of past greatness,
Watches its Cubs grow less ferocious in '47, '48, '49.
New doctor of the cure is smiling Frank Frisch,
Veteran of previous baseball transfusions who thinks,
It's nice to have the fans with you.'
Chicago has a great baseball tradition.
The fans remember glorious yesterdays as they wait for brighter tomorrows.
And eventually their Cubs will bite again!"
Little did anyone realize how long "eventually" might turn out to be. The Cubs were one of the National Leagues worst teams for an astonishing 20 seasons, from 1947 until 1966, with only two clubs finishing at breakeven or better. Most of those teams lost over 90 games, and in 1960 and 1962 they lost over 100. Finally, some talent came back to the northside, and in 1967 and 1968 the Cubs put together their first back to back winning seasons since '45 ane '46, laying the groundwork for the fans expected to be a great season for the 1969 Chicago Cubs.

In 1969, the Cubs had a substantial lead in the newly created National League East in August, led by All Star Ron Santo and eventual Hall Of Famers Ernie Banks, Ferguson Jenkins, and Billy Williams. Ken Holtzman pitched a no-hitter on August 19. At mid-month they led by 8½ games over the Cardinals and 9½ games over the New York Mets, but they wilted under pressure, lost key games against the Mets, and finished up 8 games out of first at 92-70. Many superstitious fans attribute this collapse to an incident at Shea Stadium when a fan released a black cat onto the field, thereby cursing the club. Others have stated the sheer number of day games that the Cubs had to play contributed to the disaster. (Lights for night games were not installed in Wrigley Field until 1988.) Chicago's summers are quite humid (85-90 degrees Fahrenheit on average), and playing in this heat day after day might have taken its toll (although the average temperature that summer was 71.8 degrees, which was relatively low [2]). From August 14 through the end of the season, the Mets had an amazing 39-11 record[3], while the Cubs slumped in September, going only 8-17.[4]

In the decade of the 1970's and through the 1983 season, the Cubs rarely tasted any substantial success. Following the disastrous fall to the Mets in '69, the Cubs finished slightly over .500 in 1970, 1971 and 1972, while most of the core players from the 1969 team were still in uniform, including Santo, Williams, Banks, Jenkins, Don Kessinger, and Milt Pappas. Pappas tossed the most recent Cubs no-hitter in 1972. After 1973, however, many of those players either retired or were traded, and the Cubs fell into mediocrity at best. Between 1973 and 1983 they were a combined 165 games under .500.[2] It was during this era that the term "Loveable Losers" became a catch phrase. The team's high point in this stretch was an 81-81 season in 1977, but even this was a testament to the team's futility during the "Dark Ages" of the 70's, as slugger Dave Kingman led the club into first place at 47-22 on June 28th before eventually spiraling out of contention, earmarked by a streak to end the season in which they lost 17 of 22 games. Amazingly, the club then had similar (though not as exaggerated) falls the next two seasons as well. The Cubs were 11 over .500 in '78 and 13 over in '79, but finished with losing records both seasons. This trait was dubbed "The June Swoon." Cub rosters in the late 70's and early 80's featured such players as Kingman, Rick Reuschel, Bill Madlock, Bill Buckner, Bob Dernier, Jose Cardenal, and Ivan DeJesus. DeJesus was traded in to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1982 for Ryne Sandberg and shortstop Larry Bowa.
Recent era (1984-present)

The current era of Wrigley field being a "hip" place to be has its roots in the success of the '84 club. Opening day of 1983, Rich Reuschel pitched in front of a crowd of only 9635 fans, and in 1984 the opener drew only 15,698. This was all about to change dramatically. In mid-1983, manager Lee Elia, who was most famous for his tirade of curses against the the fans, was replaced by new skipper Jim Frey. In the offseason, the Cubs rebuilt the starting pitching staff through a series of trades by GM Dallas Green, who was brought in by the Tribune company after they purchased the team in 1981. Green started by acquiring pitcher Scott Sanderson to complement an already good team which boasted players such as third baseman Ron Cey, and catcher Jody Davis. The Cubs then opened up the season going 12-8 in April, tied for first place. The race stayed tight through the first half of the season, and Green continued to deal for arms. Bill Buckner was sent to the Boston Red Sox for Dennis Eckersley and Mike Brumley, and on June 13, Mel Hall and Joe Carter were sent to the Cleveland Indians for starter Rick Sutcliffe. With the rotation set, the northsiders found themselves 42-34 at the end of June, tied with the Phillies and 1.5 games ahead of the Mets. In a game versus St. Louis, Ryne Sandberg captured the attention of the nation with two game-tying home runs off former Cub Bruce Sutter, and eventually was named NL MVP. The second half of the '84 season was all Cubbies, as the northsiders posted a 54-31 record, and the city of Chicago was in pandamoneum.
The end result was a league-best 96 victories and the NL East Championship, as the team clinched the division in Pittsburgh. In what was the team's first post-season appearance since the '45 pennant, Chicago won the first two games of the NLCS at home against the San Diego Padres by scores of 13-0 and 4-2. With the City of Chicago in an uproar, the series headed West for the final three games, where the Cubs needed only one win to make it to the World Series. After being soundly beaten in Game 3, they lost a heartbreaker when All-Star closer Lee Smith allowed a walk-off home run to Steve Garvey in Game 4. Many fans remember Garvey rounding first after his game-winning shot, pumping his fist into the air, as one of the lowest moments in Cubdom. Game 5 was just as bad; the Cubs took a 3-0 lead to the sixth inning with Sutcliffe, the 1984 NL Cy Young Award winner, on the mound, but a critical error by first baseman Leon Durham helped the Padres win the clinching game.
Most publications picked the Cubs to repeat as Division Champs in 1985, but the Cardinals took the division crown as the North Siders faded back to a sub-.500 tally. Frey was promoted to General Manager and replaced himself with former Yankee Gene Michael in 1986. but the team went through two more years of poor baseball. Shortstop and former Number One overall draft pick Shawon Dunston came up from the minors and outfielder Andre Dawson was signed as a free agent during this period. Dawson hit 49 round-trippers and took home NL MVP honors for a last place Cub team in 1987, the only player to accomplish that feat in the last 20 seasons.
The 1988 team, under new skipper Don Zimmer, was the first of a new era in Cub history, as lights were installed at Wrigley Field and were first to be used for a night game on August 8th. The game was rained out and the first official game was the next day, as the Cubs beat the Mets 6-4. The Mets, however, had a 100 win season, and the Cubs, still anchored by Sandberg, Sutcliffe and Dawson, finished in a distant fourth place. However, in 1989, the club won the NL East again, finishing up a 93 win season with a six game lead over the Mets. Some young faces contributed to the '89 success, as Jerome Walton and Dwight Smith finished 1st and 2nd in the race for NL Rookie of the Year, respectively. First baseman Mark Grace led the team in hitting in only his second season, and rookie catcher Joe Girardi provided stability behind the plate for young pitchers such as Greg Maddux. This time, Chicago met the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS. After splitting the first two games at home, the series headed to the Bay Area. The Cubs were heavy underdogs to the star-loaded Giants, who boasted players such as Matt Williams, Kevin Mitchell, and Will Clark. Despite an MVP caliber series from Grace, and although the team held a lead in each of the three games, they were unable to overcome bullpen letdowns and managerial blunders, which ultimately led to another early exit from the post season. The Giants went on to lose to the Oakland A's in the famous "Earthquake Series."

Between 1990 and 1997, the Cubs fell back into the doldrums of mediocrity, where most seasons were basically over by the beginning of June. Despite their promise, Walton and Smith never regained the form they displayed as rookies in '89. Rick Sutcliffe retired, Greg Maddux, who won his first Cy Young award in a Cub uniform, left for Atlanta via free-agency. Their replacements came and went, as free agents such as Jamie Navarro and Mike Morgan and farm system products such as Steve Trachsel, Jim Bullinger, Kevin Foster, Mike Harkey, Jeff Pico, and Frank Castillo were unable to establish themselves in any signifigant fashion. Grace, and Dunston became a fan-favorites and Dawson and Sandberg solidified themselves as an annual starters in the All-Star game, with Ryno eventually becoming the highest paid player in baseball. Brian McRae, Glenallen Hill, and Jose Hernandez found temporary homes in Chicago during the 1990's. George Bell was signed in 1991 and then after a mediocre season was traded to the White Sox in 1992 for Sammy Sosa, who started to establish himself as a power hitter, slugging 36 homers three times, but the teams themselves were quite poor. The only winning season during this streach was a 73-71 mark in the 1995 strike shortened season. In 1997, the team hit rock bottom, finishing in last place again with 94 losses.
Finally, in 1998, the club made some major changes. Dunston was traded and Sandberg retired, so most figured it would be another down year for the northsiders, but Rod Beck and Kevin Tapani were signed to bolster the pitching staff. The team also acquired Mickey Morandini (aka the "Handy Dandy Little Glove Man")Jeff Blauser to replace Dunston and signed left fielder Henry Rodriguez, fresh off a 40-HR season with the Expos, to complement Grace and Sosa in the lineup. The Cubs found themselves involved in an intense Wild Card race with the Giants and Mets, and were paced by Sosa's amazing 66 HR, MVP season and Kerry Wood's dominating Rookie of the Year pitching, which included an MLB record-tying 20 strikeout game versus the Houston Astros. On the last day of the season, the Cubs fell 4-3 to Houston, but the team's playoff hopes were saved when Colorado's Neifi Perez hit a walk-off home run to beat San Francisco later that night, and the Giants and Cubs finished tied for the Wild Card. The teams met in a one-game playoff in Chicago, in which Gary Gaetti, claimed off waivers from the Twins near the end of the season, hit a game-winning home run. Next up was Atlanta and Greg Maddux, but the North Siders played poorly, scoring only four runs as they were swept in 3 games.
Many credit the Sosa-McGwire home run chase with "saving baseball," by both bringing in new, younger fans and bringing back old fans soured by the 1994 Major League Baseball strike. After the season, GM Ed Lynch and manager Jim Riggleman opted to keep many of the same players who had career years in '98 for the '99 season. That team was 9 games over .500 in June when they were swept by the crosstown rival White Sox in Comiskey Park, which was the genesis of an epic tailspin, resulting in the club finishing in last place, 30 games out of first. Riggleman was fired after the disasterous '99 campaign, his fifth season in Chicago, and a few months later Team President Andy MacPhail cut ties with Lynch as well, taking the reins as general manager and making Jim Hendry assistant GM, vowing to lead the team to success in the new century.
McPhail sent Hendry to work quickly, and his first move was trading reliever Terry Adams to Los Angeles for Eric Young and Ismael Valdez, and hiring Don Baylor to succeed Riggleman as the Chicago skipper. During a forgettable 2000 season, Hendry also sent pitcher Scott Downs to Montreal and acquired Rondell White. This laid the groundwork for the 2001 season, which saw the North Siders make another drive for the playoffs. They made a mid-June trade to acquire All-Star 1B Fred McGriff, though McGriff took over a month debating whether or not to approve the deal and leave his hometown Tampa Bay Devil Rays, ultimately waiving his no-trade clause and allow himself to be dealt to Chicago on July 27. The Crime Dog hit a respectable .282 with 12 homers in 49 games with the Cubs, hitting cleanup behind Sammy Sosa, who had perhaps his best season, hitting 64 homers with career highs in batting average (.328) and RBI (160) for Don Baylor's club. Jon Lieber had a 20 win season, and along with Tapani and Wood made up a solid rotation. The Cubs led the eventual Wild Card winning Cardinals by 2.5 games in early September, but the run ran out when Preston Wilson's game winning home run off of closer Tom "Flash" Gordon killed the team's momentum, and they failed to make another serious charge. The Cubs did manage to finish 88-74, finishing only 5 games behind both St. Louis and Houston, who tied for first, but followed this up with a disastrous 2002 campaign, after which Baylor was fired and replaced by yet another new manager, Dusty Baker.

The Cubs won the NL Central in 2003, after trading Mark Bellhorn for Jose Hernandez and then trading Hernandez and Bobby Hill to the Pirates for Aramis Ramirez. The team then rode Sosa, Wood, and Mark Prior to an 88 win season. Finishing up August at 69-66, the Cubs went on a tear in September, starting the month by taking four of five games in a crucial series against St. Louis, and winning 19 out of 27 by months end. Prior and Wood both had good seasons, but were especially dominant late in the year, and were dubbed "Chicago Heat" by Sports Illustrated, a name that stuck on with the media. The two fireballers and their teammates managed to beat out the charging Astros, clinching the division on September 27th against Pittsburgh, just as they had in 1984. The team charged into the playoffs, knocking off Atlanta in 5 games in the NLDS, the club's first post-season series win since 1908, and moved on to face the eventual champion Florida Marlins in the NLCS. After dropping game one, the Cubs proceeded to take a 3 games to 1 lead and it appeared the North Siders would reach the World Series at last.

Marlins pitcher Josh Beckett shut out the Cubs in Game 5, but most fans thought this a blessing, as with pocket aces Prior and Wood slated to start the next two games, victory seemed all but assured, and the team could "break the curse" at home. Game 6, held on October 14th, was a scene unlike anything since, as some estimated 200,000 screaming fans battled the chilly weather and packed the streets outside Wrigley Field, and thousands more packed into local bars around the park, in anticipation of witnessing a Cubs World Series berth. The Cubs gave Prior a 3-0 lead that night. The crowd pumped up with even more adrenalin when the 7th inning stretch was sung by comedian Bernie Mac, who instead of replacing "home team" with "Cubbies,", sang "Root, root, root for The Champs". It was the eighth inning when the now-infamous incident took place in which a fan, Steve Bartman, attempted to catch a foul ball hit by Florida's Luis Castillo that Cub left fielder Moises Alou was also attempting to catch to record the second out. Alou was enraged and Castillo eventually drew a walk. The play was followed up with a booted ground ball by SS Alex S. Gonzalez, which potentially could have ended the inning via a double play. This apparently rattled the team and opened the door to 8 Florida runs and a Marlin victory. Ironically, Gonzalez led the National League in fielding percentage among all shortstops for the regular season. The next night, the Cubs rebounded to gain a lead twice in Game 7, with Kerry Wood (who homered in the game) on the mound, but lost a close, back and forth game, sealed by a game winning shot by Marlin slugger Derrek Lee, and the North Siders were once again left on the outside of the World Series looking in.
In 2004, misfortune struck the North Side again. The team welcomed back prodigal son Greg Maddux to fill the fourth spot in the rotation behind Wood, Prior, and Carlos Zambrano, giving the Cubs what on paper was considered to be the strongest rotation in the league. In late July, GM Jim Hendry pulled a blockbuster trade with eventual champion Boston for Nomar Garciaparra, and the Cubs held the Wild Card lead by a game and a half on September 24, but suffered a late inning comeback from the Mets, and then proceeded to drop 7 of their last 9 games, five of them by one run, relinquishing the lead to the Houston Astros. The season finale was a meaningless victory over the Braves, a game which team captain Sosa requested to sit out, but was then was videotaped by security cameras as he left the ballpark in the second inning. When asked about the event by the media, Sosa denied leaving Wrigley early. Already a controversial figure in the clubhouse, Sammy alienated much of his fan base (and the few team members who still were on good terms with him) with this incident, leaving his place in Cubs' lore possibly tarnished for years to come.
Though Dusty Baker had led the team to 89 wins in 2004, a one game improvement over 2003's near-pennant season, the expectations were loftier and the season was deemed a failure. This time, the fallout was decidedly unlovable. Questions were raised as to Baker's ability to handle the pitching staff, his constant juggling of the Cub lineup, and the vast number of costly injuries. Prior to the 2005 campaign, the Cubs finally managed to trade Sosa in the to the Baltimore Orioles for Jerry Hairston Jr and Mike Fontenot. Months later, Sammy was one of a group of players, (including Mark McGwire) who were asked to testify during an all-day, nationally televised hearing before the House Government Reform Committee about steroid use in baseball.

Inconsistency struck the Cubs in 2005, as the team finished in fourth place in the NL Central, at 79-83, under .500 for the first time since 2002. Many key players expected to contribute to the teams success missed extended time due to injury, including Ramirez, Prior, Wood, and Garciaparra. Though many felt Baker had done a great job leading the team to what was nearly a .500 season, most of the media and fan base started to call for Baker's head. Not all was negative however, as despite the injuries and the team's mediocre overall performance, the team witnessed a career year from first baseman and 2003 villain Derrek Lee (.335 batting average, 46 home runs, 107 RBIs) and the rise of a closer, Ryan Dempster (33 saves in 35 save opportunities).
The Tribune gave Baker one last chance to turn things around, and Jim Hendry retooled the lineup for the 2006 campaign. During the off-season, the Cubs revamped the outfield, acquiring speedy center fielder Juan Pierre from the Marlins and inked free agent Jacque Jones to fill the hole in right. Former blue-chip prospect Corey Patterson, who had shown flashes of brilliance but never the ability to play consistently at a high level, was traded. Additionally, veteran relief pitchers Bob Howry and Scott Eyre were brought in to shore up the bullpen. The North Siders came out of the gate hot in 2006, sweeping St. Louis en route to a 14-9 start, but an injury to Lee sent the team into another tailspin. In early May, the team set a franchise record for offensive futility by scoring only 13 runs in 11 games and finished the season at a pathetic 66-96. As rumors of the club's sale dominated the horizon, MacPhail resigned his position as team President following the season, and the team opted to let Baker, the former "messiah's" contract expire.

Alfonso Soriano signed the richest deal in franchise history in 2007
Chicago hired veteran skipper Lou Piniella after a managerial search that included hometown favorite Joe Girardi. Soon afterward, the Tribune Company was sold, but still allowed several important pre-season moves. Instead of waiting for Mark Prior to heal, Hendry signed Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis to join the rotation. He also inked free agent infielder Mark DeRosa and gave Alfonso Soriano the richest contract in team history to complement a newly re-signed Ramirez in the lineup. The team started slowly, however, falling behind Milwaukee by as many as eight games. Zambrano and catcher Michael Barrett were involved in a dugout brawl, and Piniella was suspended for kicking dirt at an umpire, and the season was in jeopardy by June.
Then things started to change. Barrett was traded away, and the club survived injuries and suspensions, winning 19 games in July behind a strong bullpen anchored by Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood. In September, the North Siders won critical series, kicking off a 10-2 streach that featured a pair of dramatic, late-inning wins against the Reds. In what some called the most exciting Major League Baseball season ever, the Cubs clinched the Central on September 28.
In the NLDS, they met the Arizona Diamondbacks. Carlos Zambrano was dominant in Game 1, but was matched by D-Backs ace Brandon Webb as the game was tied at one after six. In a move that has since come under scrutiny, Pinella called in ace reliever Carlos Marmol to start the seventh, who uncharacteristically gave up two runs. Pinella pulled Zambrano because he was planning on bringing him back on short rest for Game 4. The next night, the Cubs jumped out 2-0 on a home run by rookie catcher Geovany Soto, but Lilly, who was 9-1 following Cub losses, was touched for six runs. In the finale at home, the offense again squandered numerous opportunities, stranding 12 runners and falling victim to four double plays en route to another abrupt end to a once promising season.