They were both five outs away…

At Wrigley, fans lined the streets in anticipation. The Cubbies hadn’t been to the World Series since 1945. About a thousand miles away, locals in “The Hub” were primed to celebrate the beloved “Olde Towne Team’s” first victory over the Yankees since the days of Ruth.

And then something happened.

Say what you will about the managerial skills of Grady Little or Aaron (Bleeping) Boone’s single swing of glory. Argue all you want about whither it was Bartman or supposedly sure-handed shortstop Alex Gonzalez’s error that allowed the flood gates to open for the Marlins. The fact of the matter still remains; It wasn’t just the Cubs and Red Sox fans that took the devastating fall, baseball fans across the globe did as well.

When the Marlins and Yankees opened up the 2003 World Series at Yankee Stadium, something was obviously missing. That big-game atmosphere that had captured the nation just days earlier was gone. Yankee Stadium, all 56,000 seats of it, now sat silent, like a mid-March spring training game in Ft. Lauderdale.

The Cubs would have brought some of that buzz back the Fall Classic. The Cubbies, winless since 1908 against the 26-time World Champions. Twice before, they had met for the title, both of which were four-game Yankees sweeps. And it was at Wrigley Field where the legendary Babe Ruth called his shot during the 1932 World Series.

But that matchup pales in comparison to a potential Cubs-Red Sox World Series. Two of baseball’s most storied franchises, both of whom loved by fans and lovelorn by the baseball gods. One blamed nine decades of misfortune on a goat, the other blamed eight-decades of crushing heartbreak on a so-called curse.