Chicago Cubs

United States

Founded

1870

Arena

Wrigley Field · 42,000 cap

Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball franchise located on the north side of Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The club played its first games in 1870 as the Chicago White Stockings, before officially becoming the Chicago Cubs for the 1907 season. The Cubs are the oldest currently active U.S. professional sports club, continuously existing in the same city for their entire history. They are one of the two remaining charter members of the National League (the other being the Atlanta Braves). Since Chicago did not have a fully operating White Stockings team for two seasons due to the Great Chicago Fire, differences continue to be voiced when considering the elder status of this ball club: Although the Braves have played for more consecutive seasons, the Cubs hold the distinction of having been founded a full season earlier (Cubs in 1870 and Braves in 1871). The Cubs are also one of two active major league clubs based in Chicago, the other being the Chicago White Sox of the American League. The team is currently owned by Thomas S. Ricketts, son of TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts. In 1906, the franchise recorded a Major League Baseball record 116 wins (tied by the 2001 Seattle Mariners) and posted a modern-era record winning percentage of .763, still held today. They appeared in their first World Series the same year, falling to their crosstown rivals, the White Sox, four games to two. The Cubs won back-to-back World Series championships in 1907 and 1908, becoming the first Major League club to play three consecutive times in the Fall Classic and the first to win it twice. The club has appeared in seven World Series following their 1908 title, most recently in 1945. The Cubs have not won the World Series in 106 years, the longest championship drought of any major North American professional sports team, and are often referred to as the "Lovable Losers" because of this distinction. They are also known as "The North Siders" because Wrigley Field, their home park since 1916, is located in Chicago's north side Lake View community at 1060 West Addison Street.

Atlanta Braves

United States

Founded

1871

Arena

Truist Park · 41,084 cap

The Atlanta Braves are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team in Atlanta, Georgia, playing in the Eastern Division of the National League. The Braves have played home games at Turner Field since 1997 and play spring training games in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. In 2017, the team is to move to SunTrust Park, a new stadium complex in the Cumberland district of Cobb County just north of the I-285 bypass. The "Braves" name, which was first used in 1912, originates from a term for a Native American warrior. They are nicknamed "the Bravos", and often referred to as "America's Team" in reference to the team's games being broadcast on the nationally available TBS from the 1970s until 2007, giving the team a wide fan base. From 1991 to 2005 the Braves were one of the most successful franchises in baseball, winning division titles an unprecedented 14 consecutive times in that period (omitting the strike-shortened 1994 season in which there were no official division champions). The Braves won the NL West 1991–93 and the NL East 1995–2005, and they returned to the playoffs as the National League Wild Card in 2010. The Braves advanced to the World Series five times in the 1990s, winning the title in 1995. Since their debut in the National League in 1876, the franchise has won 16 divisional titles, 17 National League pennants, and three World Series championships—in 1914 as the Boston Braves, in 1957 as the Milwaukee Braves, and in 1995 in Atlanta. The Braves are the only Major League Baseball franchise to have won the World Series in three different home cities.