Earlier this season I mentioned that the Oakland Athletics were honoring the 1973 WS champions and that Sr. was able to attend games that year and in ’72 and ’74. Unlike the 3-year run in 1988-90, the A’s won each year instead of being upset in ’88 and ’90.

I’ve chosen to focus more on the 25th anniversary of the 1998 season for two reasons. As I’ve posted about a few times already, the season and calendar year are both vivid in my mind because of Dad’s ALS diagnosis and how that affected us. ’98 also happens to have been one of the more significant seasons in the past 40 years for obvious reasons, the least of which is the Cubs success and the beginning of the Kerry Wood Era.

I’m going to hold off on the 1983 and 2003 seasons for now and flash back/forward to the 1993 season with the Phillies in town right now. The early 1990’s were abysmal for the Cubs-a decade I’d soon forget. That year’s team resembled the 2022 Phillies who surprised most of the baseball world. The Jim Fregosi led that group of characters(Curt Schilling, John Kruk, Darren Daulton, Lenny Dykstra, Larry Anderson, Pete Incaviglia, Jim Eisenreich, Terry Mulholland, and Mitch Williams) to a WS loss against the defending champion Blue Jays. At the time, they were battling the demons of the 1983 team who were trying to replicate the success of the 1980 team.

The Philadelphia media and sports fans have a very hard time letting go. Past battle scars are preserved for as long as possible. Other markets are tough, but some do a better job moving on and embracing a current team that’s experiencing success of their own.

If you’re a Cubs fan of my vintage, the 1993 season is likely a blip on your baseball radar and pales in comparison to the far uglier 2003 season, I know that the Marlins are celebrating the 20th anniversary of that team. Not only is the retiring, Miguel Cabrera a member of that WS champion, he was an important cog. The disappointments that Cub fans suffered in 1984. 89 and 98 were nothing compared to what happened in 2003-at the hands of the Marlins.

That story and the 1983 season are for another day and time. Until then, the Cubs have to rebound from last night’s yawner against the Phillies and put London in the rearview mirror and move on.