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With the Boston Red Sox exorcising their 86 year World Series drought in 2004 and the Chicago White Sox ending their 88-year title-less streak (even if people don’t seem to remember this) in 2005, the Chicago Cubs became the only team in Major League Baseball who has not won the World Series in the Billboard Magazine music charts era.
I am a baseball nerd, a fact which should surprise absolutely nobody who realizes right now what website they are reading, but I am also a pop music nerd, and one of my favorite bits of utterly useless trivia is associating events with the song that was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 at the time. For instance, on the day that I was born, the number-one song in the United States was “Two Hearts”, which is probably like the 14th most famous Phil Collins song.
The Chicago Cubs have not won a World Series during the Billboard era (for historical reference, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” came out in 1908), and eight additional teams have not won the World Series in their (much shorter) existence, but here is a list of the #1 song in the United States on the day that the other 22 franchises last won the World Series. Here’s hoping somebody else finds this even moderately interesting.
- Atlanta Braves: Fantasy, by Mariah Carey
- Florida/Miami Marlins: Baby Boy, by Beyonce ft. Sean Paul
- New York Mets: True Colors, by Cyndi Lauper
- Philadelphia Phillies: Womanizer, by Britney Spears
- Cincinnati Reds: I Don’t Have the Heart, by James Ingram
- Pittsburgh Pirates: Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough, by Michael Jackson
- St. Louis Cardinals: Someone Like You, by Adele
- Arizona Diamondbacks: Family Affair, by Mary J. Blige
- Los Angeles Dodgers: Red Red Wine, by UB40
- San Francisco Giants: All About That Bass, by Meghan Trainor
- Baltimore Orioles: Total Eclipse of the Heart, by Bonnie Tyler
- Boston Red Sox: Royals, by Lorde
- New York Yankees: Down, by Jay Sean ft. Lil Wayne
- Toronto Blue Jays: Dreamlover, by Mariah Carey (note: this was also the #1 song in Canada at the time)
- Chicago White Sox: Gold Digger, by Kanye West ft. Jamie Foxx
- Cleveland Indians: A Tree in the Meadow, by Margaret Whiting
- Detroit Tigers: I Just Called to Say I Love You, by Stevie Wonder
- Kansas City Royals: The Hills, by The Weeknd
- Minnesota Twins: Emotions, by Mariah Carey
- Los Angeles Angels: Dilemma, by Nelly ft. Kelly Rowland
- Oakland Athletics: Miss You Much, by Janet Jackson
So that’s it. Mariah Carey appears to release a lot of singles in the Fall. And maybe the Cubs or Indians will soon get to make their song that Chainsmokers song. So yeah. Here’s the news and notes from yesterday.
The next World Series winner
I speculated on how the next St. Louis Cardinals World Series winner will be built. Namely, that I don’t know how it will be built but that the rise of the 2016 Cubs does not mean that their approach is the only successful approach to team building.
Facebook Live
Craig Edwards conducted another live Facebook event on the Viva El Birdos Facebook page (which you should “like”) and he answered many of your pressing questions about the Cardinals.
Arizona Fall League
Josey Curtis supplied an Arizona Fall League update. A notably good performance was that of Carson Kelly.
Gold Gloves
Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright are nominated for Gold Gloves. Lil scooter wrote about this.
So there you go. There might only be two games left of baseball this season so enjoy it while you can.