The minor explosion of openly professional teams happened in 1870 due to success of Cincinnati Red Stockings. Now everyone wanted to defeat them to make their own presence felt. The National Association formed as the first professional league in 1871 to take care of it all. A color had to be chosen so Chicago adopted white. Pitcher Albert Spalding of the Boston Red Stockings, and first baseman Adrian "Cap" Anson of the Philadelphia Athletics joined Chicago after the 1875 season.



The White Stockings cruised through the National League's inaugural season of 1876 with its beefed-up squad. Chicago Cubs had some great seasons in the 1880s as they won 67, lost 17, for an all-time record .798 winning percentage. Chicago Cubs won the pennant in 1885 and Clarkson had a fair year. In spite of some good seasons, the Chicago Cubs have failed to win a World Series championship since 1908. They had a substantial lead in August, 1969 with Hall Of Famers Ernie Banks, Ferguson Jenkins and Billy Williams but all the confidence wilted under pressure. Chicago Cubs lost key games against New York Mets and staggered a shot at the postseason by 8 games (92-70).

They did very well as the 1984 NLCS started and Chicago Cubs needed to win only one game of the next three planned to be played in San Diego. Everything sort of crumbled after this and a critical error by Leon Durham helped the San Diego Padres win the game and head to the World Series. In 1989 Chicago Cubs again were in the NLCS, this time with the San Francisco Giants. They also managed to hold the lead at some point in their games but bullpen and managerial blunders ultimately led to three straight losses and the team's exit from the postseason.

Chicago Cubs made it into the playoffs as a wild card team in 1998. This was a 60+ HR season for them and it all happened due to Sammy Sosa and Kerry Wood's Rookie of the Year pitching performance. Atlanta Braves became their playoff opponent. The Chicago Cubs scored only four runs and the Braves easily swept them in 3 straight games. After 14 years, their first division title win came in 2003. It was also the team's first postseason series win since 1908. They beat Atlanta Braves and then took 3 games to 1 lead over the Florida Marlins. It seemed highly likely now that they would reach the World Series for the first time in 58 seasons.

In 2006, the Chicago Cubs came out of the gate hot but All-Star first baseman Derrek Lee’s injury sent the team into a tailspin of historic proportions. This time they managed to set a franchise record for offensive futility by scoring only 13 runs in 11 games.

For more information visit http://www.ticketmayor.com/sports-tickets/Chicago-Cubs.php