How Cubs Fans Reacted to Their Team Clinching a World Series Berth for the First Time in 71 Years

Here’s how Cubs fans reacted on Saturday night when their team clinched a World Series berth for the first time in 71 years.

October 23, 2016

Not Available Lead — Image via Complex Original
Complex Original

The Cubs didn’t win a championship on Saturday night—but don’t tell that to the people of Chicago who are celebrating their team clinching a berth in the World Series for the first time in 71 (!) years. The Cubs won the National League pennant on Saturday with a dominating performance against Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers. Kris Bryant and Ben Zobrist drove in runs in the first inning. Dexter Fowler helped the Cubs add another run in the second. And Willson Contreras and Anthony Rizzo homered in the fourth and fifth to give the Cubs a 5-0 lead and help them win their first pennant since 1945.

Just to put things into perspective, 1945 was the year World War II ended, so…yeah. You could say that this is kind of a big deal for Cubs fans. Even the mayor of Chicago is in awe right now:

Some Cubs fans are celebrating by absolving Steve Bartman of his 2003 sin. If you somehow aren’t familiar with Bartman, he’s the Cubs fan who played a part in the team’s collapse during the 2003 NLCS:

But the vast majority of Cubs fans are too busy celebrating to worry about Bartman—or anything else—right now. Again, it's the first time they've been able to do this in seven decades, and they'll now get to see their team try and win a World Series for the first time since 1908.

To help you understand just how important this is to Cubs fans and, frankly, to the city of Chicago as a whole, here are some of the best reactions fans have had to their team’s incredible postseason performance:

Many fans are celebrating IRL, too. Here are some of the scenes surrounding Wrigley Field on Saturday night:

As we mentioned, the Cubs haven’t really won anything yet. There’s still more work to be done, and the team has a tall task ahead of it as the Indians are playing great baseball right now and looking for a historic World Series win of their own (Cleveland hasn't won a World Series since 1948). But this still feels really special for Cubs fans. What a night.