Sporting News picked the Cubs to win the 2015 World Series . Many said the prediction was crazy, but the Cubs' owner wouldn't go that far.
Tom Ricketts spoke to a crowd of about 250 people at a luncheon at the Avalon Banquets in Elk Grove Village on Tuesday. During the session he addressed SN's call and said the idea wasn't "completely crazy."
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"We don't like the 'predict, predict, predict' stuff, but I'm telling you that it's been several years in the making," Ricketts said via the Daily Herald . "We've built a very strong foundation for our team, and we're going to keep getting better and I do believe we're going to win our division and get to the playoffs this year. We'll be saying, 'Cubs win' a lot more."
The Cubs famously haven't won the World Series since 1908. The team hasn't made the playoffs since 2008 and has not won a playoff game since 2003. But now the team has some reason for optimism. Ricketts is excited about the potential of this year's team.
"If someone were to come up to me a few years ago and said, 'OK, Tom, we'll give you Theo Epstein to run baseball operations, Joe Maddon to be your manager, you'll be the No. 1 farm system in all baseball, I'll give you two All-Stars — first baseman (Anthony Rizzo) and shortstop (Starlin Castro) — and we'll throw in Jon Lester as your ace,' you think about that and I'll say, 'OK, I'll bet on that.' "