For the Chicago Cubs two seven-year eras of contention, 1967-73 and 2015-21, bear  remarkable similarities, says William S. Bike, author of the book The Forgotten 1970 Chicago Cubs: Go and Glow.

Bike's article, "Recent and Current Chicago Cubs' Eras Similar to 1960s and 1970s," was published by Medium.

In both eras the Cubs contended for seven years straight and had some of their greatest teams, Bike says.

In the article, he compares the great 1967-73 Cubs team featuring Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Ernie Banks, and Fergie Jenkins to the great Cubs team of 2015-21 Cubs with Anthony Rizzo, Krys Bryant, and Javier Baez, and explains the different postseason playoff systems in the two eras. He notes that unlike the 2015-21 Cubs, the 1967-73 Cubs never made the playoffs, but the computer analysis he did for The Forgotten 1970 Chicago Cubs: Go and Glow shows that if they would have made the World Series that year, they would have won it "rather easily," Bike said.

He then goes on to say how each seven-year era of contention was followed with a three-year era of rebuilding. Bike analyzes current Cub players and available free agents, and suggests how the team can get back into contention more quickly.

"After contending in 1977 the Cubs signed the major leagues' top home run hitter in Dave Kingman for 1978, and he led the league in homers for the Cubs in 1979," baseball historian Bike notes. "Wouldn't free agent Aaron Judge do great in Wrigley Field? He'd be rocket launching baseballs into the street like Kingman used to do."

To see the entire article, go to https://billbike.medium.com/recent-and-current-chicago-cubs-eras-similar-to-1960s-and-1970s-33263e872ca4