Hopeful Cubs fans watching from across the globe
Thousands of miles and several time zones away - on a tiny island near Indonesia, in downtown London, in the Peruvian mountains and in a United Arab Emirates classroom - expats from the suburbs will follow the Cubs in the playoffs.
Living outside the U.S. hasn't lessened their love of their team or their excitement about the postseason. It's just that watching the Cubs from afar is more challenging, and lonely.
Joseph Dwyer, 50, said when he first moved to Sevenoaks, Kent, England, in 1992, the only way to check a Cubs score was to read the tiny print of a two-day-old USA Today sports section. At one point, he subscribed to a service that mailed him VHS tapes of Cubs games from the previous week. Now, the Oak Park native streams the games online, but there are still obstacles.
Dwyer watches more afternoon games than night games, which start at 3 a.m. his time. When he gets up in the middle of the night, he checks the Cubs score before returning to bed.
If the Cubs get to the World Series, Dwyer plans to watch in the pre-dawn hours. And if they win, he'll silently celebrate alone in his living room, so he won't wake his wife and kids.
"It'll, no doubt, be floods of tears," Dwyer said.
Peace Corps volunteer Kendall Frank, 23, of Des Plaines lives more than 9,200 miles away in Timor-Leste, a small island nation between Australia and Indonesia. A die-hard fan, she went to one last Cubs game with her friends before leaving in August.
"It's crazy that this is happening while I'm literally on the other side of the world. It makes it more surreal. What are the odds that the two years I'll be gone, that this is happening?" she said, laughing.
With hardly any internet access, Frank can't watch the games or follow along in real time, but she gets text updates from friends and checks Facebook when possible. To show her support, she brought a Wiffle ball and bat to Timor-Leste to teach baseball to the children, and she wears her Cubs hat every day.
Weak Wi-Fi also makes streaming games difficult for fan Shelly Albert, 25, of Barrington, who lives in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. During breaks from her special education teaching job, she checks on the Cubs through Facebook's real-time game updates, friends' social media posts and texts from her mom.
"It's not as much fun as being there," she said. "I'm really excited, but no one else around me is excited."
Tyler Compere can relate. The 26-year-old Elgin native, who now lives in Cusco, Peru, is in the same time zone as Chicago and can watch Cubs games on ESPN, which are sometimes broadcast in sports bars. However, he has no Cubs camaraderie, except for an occasional American tourist who stops him when they see his Cubs hat.
"Luckily, this year, most of the comments are about how good the Cubs are, and not offering their pity for being a Cubs fan," he said. "Baseball is pretty much nonexistent in Peru, though."
Kevin Duggan, who lives in Oxford, England, but whose family lives in Lincolnshire, said he often watches the games in the middle of the night through his MLB Network subscription. He's tried unsuccessfully to get his girlfriend to watch.
"Some weekends I'll just be up late, in bed, watching with my headphones on," Duggan said.
He's thinking about flying home for the World Series, just to sit in Murphy's Bleachers bar and watch history unfold. Regardless of where he is, he plans to celebrate as if he's standing out on Clark and Addison.
North Side native and TV executive Fred Weintraub, who splits his time among London, Houston and Chicago, says his soccer-loving British friends appreciate his passion for the Cubs but don't take much interest in the game. Fortunately, as the executive producer of sports for Weigel Broadcasting, he'll get to fly home and attend most postseason games.
"No matter where I am in the world, I always know what the Cubs are doing," he said. "When you're a lifelong Cubs fan, and you have memories of Billy Williams and Ron Santo ... it's in your heart. So you're there one way or another."