When the Cubs won the 2016 World Series, it looked like it could have been the start of a dynasty. Key players were young, there was money to spend and the group showed it could survive any challenge.
Instead, the Cubs are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the lone ring of that era. To some, that might be a disappointment, that the Theo Epstein-assembled core only made it back to the National League Championship Series in 2017 and was broken up in 2021.
Anthony Rizzo doesn’t see it that way.
“It was never disappointing,” Rizzo said Saturday at the dedication of Champions Gate. “It’s really hard to win in this game.”
In 2015 and 2016, the Cubs made it look easy. They won a combined 200 regular-season games and reached consecutive NLCS. Then things got harder, some players departed, others stagnated and the window shut.
“The teams are never the same,” Rizzo said. “We did have a good core and we did a lot of special things in that four, five, six-year run but winning in this game, winning every day, winning a ballgame on July 18 against the Minnesota Twins is not easy. You have to cherish every one of them.”
That’s one of the perspectives Epstein has picked up in the last decade.
“It’s one thing to assemble a bunch of talent, it’s another thing to have that group turn into a championship team that stands up in the face of adversity at the most important times,” Epstein said.
The 2016 group is not going down in history like the 1990s Bulls or even the 2010s Blackhawks. Like the 1985 Bears, they were one-and-done even though they looked like a team that could win multiple times.
That hasn’t diminished what they mean to Cubs fans.
“Whether it’s in Chicago, in Illinois, or nationwide or worldwide, we get told stories on a daily or weekly basis of what this meant to families and generations of families, and that’s special,” Jake Arrieta said. “This is something we were able to do and cement ourselves in Cubs history forever.”
Russell attends
One of the 2016 alumni in attendance was starting shortstop Addison Russell.
Between 2018 and 2019, Russell served a 40-game suspension for violating MLB’s domestic-abuse policy. In September 2018, MLB put Russell on administrative leave after an investigation into abuse allegations detailed by his ex-wife, Melisa Reidy-Russell.
“Today we celebrated the players who made significant contributions to the Cubs’ 2016 World Championship team. As the organization stated publicly in 2019, Addison took accountability for his actions, served his suspension, and completed an extensive rehabilitation process before returning to play for the Cubs later that season,” Cubs spokesperson Jennifer Martinez-Roth said in a statement to the Sun-Times.
Russell, who also attended the 2026 Cubs Convention, went through MLB-mandated treatment and voluntary counseling during his suspension. He was cheered when he was introduced at both the Champions Gate dedication and before the game inside Wrigley Field.
Dansby in
Shortstop Dansby Swanson started and hit eighth, a day after getting hit in the face by a deflected throw on an attempted double play.