2003 Chicago Cubs

One of the most heartbreaking teams in baseball history, the 2003 Chicago Cubs were supposed to be the team that broke the Billy Goat curse. Unfortunately (for Chicago and my middle school classmates on the Chicago bandwagon), the Cubs ended up adding to the C-U-R-S-E legend. As a Showdown team, the 2003 Cubs are heavy on the pitching and light on the on-base percentage. It almost pushed them to a World Series showdown with the Yankees, but the Bartman incident (followed by the Gonzalez error and an epic bullpen collapse) doomed the team in Game 6, before they blew a lead in Game 7 as well.

Without further ado, one of the most heartbreaking baseball teams in history:

2003 Marlins

The Florida Marlins somehow have two World Series titles in around twenty seasons, despite never winning their division. Meanwhile, the Brewers, Expos/Nationals, Mariners, Rockies, and Padres have zero titles in 200+ seasons of existence. The 1997 Marlins was probably the more talented roster, featuring young players that would go on to be stars (and maybe featured some Hall of Famers): Kevin Brown, Gary Sheffield, Edgar Renteria and more. However, we needed to make the 2003 Marlins first! As kids that mainly grew up in the Chicago suburbs, that epic Bartman-feuled collapse and the corresponding Marlins upset of the Yankees was the first truly magical postseason most of us saw (or most painful, depending if you're a pro or anti Cubs fan).

Something many of us forget is the Cubs and Marlins dispatched a pair of 100 win teams in the first round (Atlanta and San Francisco), and the Marlins did all this without a true power hitter or an OB 10 in the lineup! A balanced team with a solid rotation and weak bullpen, the Marlins truly are a case of a manager getting hot with his rolling (or fortunate that the other manager keeps giving up big hits off his own chart).

Hopefully you enjoy this underdog team!