And if they get swept out again, it'll still be rather anticlimactic and ultimately, meaningless. I'd still take that over 5-10 year droughts between playoff appearances. If they can keep getting to the playoffs with a high level of frequency, sooner or later they are bound to get hot at the right time. At least that is how I look at it. Exactly. I'll take regular or semi-regular playoff heartbreaks like we've had 3 times in the last 5 years (and just barely missed a 4th) than the huge droughts that Cubs had since their last WS appearance. Hell, 5-10 years would have been nice compared to some of the gaps. The more often they go, sure, the more often we could see collapses...but it also drastically increases the odds of them breaking through and winning it all. "Meaningless" implies there's little to no difference between a Cubs team that wins 97 games or 57 games. If the playoffs are all that matters, why even watch or follow baseball before September? You misunderstand. I'm not saying it's meaningless that they had a good season. I'm saying it's not going to have any further meaning unless they actually break through. Nobody's going to care in 20 years if the Cubs made the playoffs 3 years in a row if they got swept out each time. They will care if they do something once they get there, if only in one of those 3 years. And I do agree, the more you make it the more you give yourself a chance. I'm just saying, let's cash in here at some point. It may be meaningless how they did during the regular season once they bow out of the playoffs in the sense that the season is over for them at that point, but from a fan's point of view, at least this fan, when the Cubs are winning and having a good season and making a run for the post season, a long hot summer is so much more enjoyable than knowing in May or June that its just another "wait again till next year" season. I want to see the Cubs make it to the WS just as much as anyone on this board, but I'll take them making it to the post season and bowing out in the first round every time over them being out of it by the summer solstice.