LOS ANGELES — It took 13 years, and of course it would be an unlucky number. These are the Chicago Cubs, after all, and no omen is too trivial. Not with that triple-digit streak of seasons without a World Series title, anyway.
Thirteen years ago, the Cubs returned to Wrigley Field for Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, leading three games to two. We know how that turned out. The pennant slipped away, the misery continued. The Cubs have mostly been bad since, and when they were good, they flopped in October.
Now they are back at the precipice, poised for a celebration decades in the making.