The 1989 Chicago Cubs entered the season coming off four years in the wilderness. After winning the NL East title and coming within one game of the National League pennant in 1984, the Cubs immediately regressed and posted four straight losing seasons. In 1989, the combination of a veteran manager and a cadre of talented young players, the Cubs returned to the top of the NL East.
The San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs met in the 1989 NLCS with each in pursuit of a long-sought pennant. The Cubs’ chase of their first National League pennant since 1945 is the stuff of legend, but the Giants had been out of the Fall Classic for a while themselves. Their last appearance was 1962. It was San Francisco who ended their drought with a five-game victory in 1989
Franks was brought on to lead the 1977 Chicago Cubs and for a few tantalizing months it looked like the Cubbie Hour of MLB history had finally arrived. Then another cruel late summer and early fall reminded us that indeed, the Cubbies are still the Cubbies.
The North Side of Chicago has never been renowned for baseball excellence, and the early part of the 1980s was no exception. The beloved Chicago Cubs, after finishing second in the old NL East in 1969, 1970 and 1972 had finished under .500 in each of the ensuing eleven years, including a 91-loss season in 1983. A managerial change of a series of big trades made the 1984 Chicago Cubs season one to remember.
The 1984 NLCS saw two fresh faces arrive on the October stage. The Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres each won their first division titles since advent of divisional play in 1969, and met in the League Championship Series. It was a series that began looking like a rout, before shifting gears and ending with an epic Saturday night and Sunday afternoon in San Diego.