After an improbable, wildly unexpected run to the NLCS in 2015 followed by a World Series championship, the word ‘dynasty’ began to get thrown about fairly regularly on the North Side of Chicago. The Chicago Cubs further stoked those fires with a somehow disappointing return trip to a third consecutive National League Championship Series in 2017, where they fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
This season put an end to that sort of talk for many folks. And we can debate all day whether the Cubs have been a dynasty or even, if they were, if this season marked the end of that run.