Chicago Cubs' collapse right down there with worst in team history

The 1969 Chicago Cubs forever will be remembered for authoring the biggest late-season collapse in team history.

Until now.

So move over, Leo Durocher and the black cat. You're off the hook, thanks to the 2019 Cubs.

Three Cubs collapses come to mind: 1969, 2004 and 2019. Last year's team at least made the wild-card game after having a 5-game lead in the National League Central on Sept. 2 only to lose to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 163 and to the Colorado Rockies in the wild-card game.

This year's collapse - cemented with an eighth straight loss Wednesday night at Pittsburgh - gets the nod over 1969 because this year's team had three avenues to the postseason: winning the division title or snagging one of two wild-card spots.

The Cubs whiffed on all three. For the '69 Cubs, it was win the NL East or go home.

So let's rank the late-season follies:

2019 Cubs:

After beating the Brewers 10-5 in Milwaukee on Sept. 5, the Cubs (76-63) were second in the NL Central, 2½ games behind the St. Louis Cardinals and 5 games ahead of he Brewers (71-68). In the wild-card standings, the Cubs were 2 games behind Washington for the top spot and 3½ games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4 ahead of the Phillies and 5 ahead of the Brewers.

On that date, the Cardinals had a 91.7 chance to make the postseason, followed in the Central by the Cubs (86.5) and the Brewers (5.6).

Since then, the Cubs were 6-13 entering Thursday night's series finale at Pittsburgh and free falling with an eight-game losing streak.

Yes, the Cubs have dealt with injuries to Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez and Kris Bryant down the stretch. The Brewers have kept winning without defending MVP Christian Yelich, who fouled a ball off his knee Sept. 10, putting him out for the season.

Astonishingly, the Cubs entered Thursday with the best run differential in the division (plus-102), ahead of the Cardinals' plus-101 and the Brewers' plus-9.

If there's a defining moment to the Cubs' collapse, it was closer Craig Kimbrel giving up home runs on successive pitches last Saturday, turning a possible 8-7 victory into a 9-8 loss.

1969 Cubs:

The Cubs held first place in the NL East for 129 days. Back then, the biggest threat seemed to be the St. Louis Cardinals, who were coming off back-to-back National League pennants.

The division lead for the Cubs was 9 games on Aug. 16. But the Cubs went 8-17 in September and 1-1 in October. Meanwhile, it wasn't the Cardinals who spoiled the party, despite Cards broadcaster Harry Caray singing, "The Cardinals are coming, tra-la, tra-la." It was the upstart New York Mets, who went 21-10 in August, 23-7 in September and 1-1 in October.

The Cubs suffered through an eight-game losing streak from Sept. 3-11, with three defining moments: Willie Stargell's game-tying homer off Phil Regan to tie the Sept. 7 game at Wrigley Field, a game the Pirates won in 11; the "black cat game" Sept. 9 at Shea Stadium and pitcher Dick Selma's wild pickoff throw past third baseman Ron Santo on Sept. 11.

2004 Cubs:

On paper, the 2004, Cubs were better than the '03 club that came within five outs of the World Series before losing the NLCS in seven games to the Florida Marlins.

General manager Jim Hendry added Derrek Lee and Greg Maddux in the off-season, and the Cubs were getting a full year of Aramis Ramirez, whom they obtained during the previous season. Hendry also traded for shortstop Nomar Garciaparra at the end of July 2004.

The Cubs held first place for 14 days, but the NL Central belonged to the Cardinals, who would win 105 games. The battle was for the one wild-card spot, which the Cubs seemed to have a grip on until the final week of the season.

The defining moment on the field came Saturday, Sept. 25, at Shea Stadium, when reliever LaTroy Hawkins gave up a game-tying 3-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to Victor Diaz, allowing the Mets to rally for 3-3 tie.

Lefty Kent Mercker gave up the game-winning walk-off homer to Craig Brazell in the bottom of the 11th to stun the Cubs.

The schedule hurt the Cubs, too. After playing Sept. 1 at Montreal, they didn't play again until Sept 6 because of a hurricane in Florida. From Sept. 10-Oct. 3, the Cubs played 26 games in 24 days, including a pair of doubleheaders.

The Mets game started a skid in which the Cubs lost seven of eight, with a five-game losing streak part of it.

Unlike the '69 Cubs, the 2004 squad will go down as one of the most unpopular in franchise history.

Hawkins started a feud with the media early in the season when he took over for injured closer Joe Borowski. During a self-called news conference, Hawkins said he was no longer talking and that he could do the job of media members but that they couldn't do his job.

Players sniped at the team's TV broadcasting crew, and after the season play-by-play man Chip Caray and analyst Steve Stone were out.

The '69 Cubs remain beloved because of their closeness to the community and because they came as close as any Cubs team had come to getting to the World Series since 1945.

The 2019 team won't be as disliked as the 2004 club but likely will be remembered as letting fans down after the 2016 World Series championship and ending a run of four straight postseason appearances.