Fans Eager To See Cubs Avenge 1969 Collapse To 'Miracle Mets'
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Cubs were getting ready to head to New York on Friday, where they'll be playing the Mets in the National League Championship Series, meaning they might finally be able to avenge their heartbreaking 1969 season.
The Cubs started off the 1969 season red hot, winning 11 of their first 12 games, and by mid-August had built a nine-game lead over the second-place Mets. It fell apart in September, as the Cubs lost 17 of their last 25 games, including a two-game sweep by the Mets, and went on an eight-game losing streak. Meantime, the "Miracle Mets" went 23-7 to end the season, surging ahead of the Cubs to take the NL East title by eight games.
Fast forward 46 years, and the Cubs sat glued to their TV sets Thursday night to find out who they'd face in the NLCS, as the Mets and Dodgers faced off in Los Angeles. In the end, the Mets came out on top 3-2 in Game 5.
The two oldest Cubs players – David Ross and Fernando Rodney – were born in 1977, eight years after the season that broke the hearts of many Cubs fans, so Cubs-Mets history isn't likely on the minds of the players, but some fans remember 1969, some in very different ways.
John Erlanger was nine years old in New York in 1969 and said he was at Shea Stadium for Game 5, when the "Miracle Mets" won it all.
"There was a magical feel to the '69 Mets," he said. "They weren't really supposed to win it, and I think the Cubs started off that way this year, but now I think yeah they are supposed to win it. There's nothing magical about it, it's just real good baseball players."
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He said he moved to Chicago and became a Cubs fan in 1972.
"Now, all these years later, I'm a Cubs fan, so I've gotten both sides of this really beautiful story, and of course very much waiting for the Cubs to take it all this year," Erlanger said.
Even Cubs fans too young to remember 1969 were eager to see the rivalry renewed.
"Honestly, I think it's great," Dylan Coon said. "I think that we stand a lot better of a chance against the Mets than we do against the Dodgers, so I'm also happy that we can sort of go back at that rivalry, and we can definitely whoop whoop the Mets in the playoffs. So I'm pretty soaked about it."
The Cubs won all seven regular-season games against the Mets, but New York has undergone a significant overhaul since then and is now considered one of the hottest teams in baseball.
"New York's a lot like us," Cubs veteran catcher David Ross said. "They've grown up over the year. They're a much different team than when we played them earlier on in the year."
A head oddsmaker at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook has the Cubs as the favorites to win the World Series, at 5-2 odds.
A lot of people put money down every year betting on the Cubs to win it all, and early this year the odds were 40-1 against the young Cubs team winning the World Series. One bookmaker said Vegas could lose big if the Cubs come through.
