Exactly a century ago, the Chicago Cubs won the National League pennant.
Before the 1918 season started, this was neither a foregone conclusion nor even expected. After a decade of dominance from 1903-12, during which the Cubs won at least 91 games every season but one, averaged 98 wins over the period and won four league titles and two World Series, the team had fallen on hard times. Players aged, retired or departed and as 1918 dawned, the team was coming off three straight losing seasons.
Several shrewd acquisitions and the onset of World War I, which took quite a number of good players out of baseball, suddenly had the Cubs as a dominant club again.