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For Chicago Cubs' Epstein, vision accomplished

Four years ago to the day Sunday, Chicago Cubs president Theo Epstein met with a few of us media types.

He wanted to move past the just-concluded 101-loss season and look to the future.

“I actually walked around Wrigley the other day, this Sunday with my son, and saw the ivy was red, orange,” Epstein said on Oct. 23, 2012. “I just kind of flashed to how great it would be to be playing baseball this time of year at Wrigley. That's the goal, to get there, but to get there in a way to get there year in and year out.

“You can't help but look at what the Cardinals are doing and the Giants now and teams that are able to be factors in October year in and year out. You can't but look at that and understand that's the goal.

“That's our goal.”

The Cubs' ultimate goal — winning the World Series — hasn't been reached yet, but they did something monumental Saturday night by winning their first National League pennant since 1945.

They will try to win their first World Series title since 1908 beginning Tuesday night, when they open the World Series at Cleveland. The Indians have a world-championship drought of their own, dating to 1948.

On Saturday night, with the ivy turning those colors Epstein mentioned four years ago, you couldn't blame him if those hues looked a little more vivid to him.

The Cubs are appearing in their second straight postseason after getting swept in the National League championship series by the Mets last October. And they appear well on their way to achieving the goal set forth by Epstein, general manager Jed Hoyer and scouting/player-development chief Jason McLeod: building a foundation for sustained success.

Getting to, let alone winning, the World Series nowadays is difficult to do, what with expanded playoffs and the random nature of the game of baseball itself.

But the Cubs look to be in position to knock on the door every year for the foreseeable future.

The plan undertaken by Epstein and his crew wasn't without pain. In addition to the 101 losses in 2012, the Cubs lost 96 games in 2013 and 89 in 2014.

In those first three years, Wrigley Field was so quiet on some nights that a few of us in the press box likened it to a library.

But it was nothing but happy noise Saturday, as the 42,386 fans inside Wrigley Field and the thousands more on the streets of Chicago partied well into the wee hours.

The dark days of 2012, 2013 and 2014 seemed well in the rearview mirror.

Epstein acknowledged those days were harder on the fans than they were on him.

“It wasn't all that painful; it was probably more painful for our fans,” he said above the din Saturday night. “For us, there were some trying moments, but it was fun being focused on acquiring young talent and having this in mind as a goal and pulling together in the same direction.”

Rookies Willson Contreras (signed by the previous baseball regime) and Albert Almora Jr. were in the starting lineup Saturday as was key draft choice Kris Bryant and still-young players for whom the Cubs traded, such as Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell and winning pitcher Kyle Hendricks.

Infielder Javy Baez, drafted by the previous baseball-operations team, was a co-MVP of the NLCS.

The Epstein-led front office brought in the other co-MVP, pitcher Jon Lester as well as veterans such as infielder-outfielder Ben Zobrist, center fielder Dexter Fowler, backup catcher David Ross and closer Aroldis Chapman.

“All the veterans took less (money) to sign here, to be part of this,” Epstein said. “Our young guys, from the moment they were drafted, wanted to contribute to a club that could get to a World Series, win a World Series. They all set their egos aside, and they're getting rewarded for it.”

Team chairman Tom Ricketts put his faith in Epstein and expressed gratitude that the fans kept the faith.

“The rebuild we've done the last four, five or six years, the people went through a lot, and they've all been with us,” Ricketts said as he stood a few feet from Epstein. “It's really incredible.”

• Follow Bruce's baseball reports on Twitter @BruceMiles2112.

Williams thinking of Banks, Santo

  Theo Epstein, President of Baseball Operations for the Chicago Cubs hangs out on the field prior game one of the National League division series at Wrigley Field in Chicago Friday, October 7, 20016 Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
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