Welcome to Behind the Plate With DJ, a weekly look at what is going on in the world of baseball. This series will weigh in on the interesting, the controversial, and the downright cool. The play of the week could be an incredible play or an unusual one. If something made you scratch your head, you will probably find it here. So sit back, relax, and let’s take a look at the week that was.

The 2016 World Series will end a long streak: either the Indians will win their first title since 1948 or the Cubs will win their first since 1908.

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Since their last World Series title, the Indians have won the pennant in 1954, 1995, and 1997. The ‘48 Indians included outfielder Larry Doby, who had broken the American League color barrier in July of the previous year. Hall of Famer Bob Lemon and Gene Bearden had 20 wins, while Hall of Famer Bob Feller added 19 wins.

The Cubs have not even been in the Series since 1945, giving them a record for the 4 major sports leagues in America of 70 years between championship appearances. Besides their 1945 appearance, the Cubs won the pennant but lost the Series in 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, and 1938 since their last World Series win. The ‘08 club included the famous Evers-to-Tinker-to-Chance double play combo. Mordecai Brown had 29 wins and led the league with 5 saves that season.

Since The Indians Last Won It All

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The Indians have not won the World Series since they beat the Boston Braves in 1948. There have been many changes just in baseball. The first obvious change is that the Braves are no longer in Boston. They moved from Boston to Milwaukee in 1954 and then on to Atlanta in 1966. The Dodgers were still in Brooklyn, the Giants were in New York, the A’s were in Philadelphia, the Orioles were still in St. Louis and called the Browns, and the Twins were still the original Washington Senators. The Cubs finished last in the National League at 64-90.

Sixty-eight years ago, the price of gas was 16 cents per gallon, a new car would cost around $1,250, a loaf of bread cost 14 cents, and a movie ticket cost 60 cents. The average American made $2,950 per year and a new house cost $7,700.

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In other news, just weeks after the Indians won, a newspaper erroneously ran the headline “Dewey Defeats Truman.” In the next year, George Orwell published his futuristic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The years since have seen the first modern credit card, the first organ transplant, and the “Peanuts” comic made its debut.

When the Indians last won the World Series, there were no color TVs, the polio vaccine had not been created, and Queen Elizabeth was a 22-year-old princess, still 4 years away from becoming the Queen of England. The first McDonald’s would not open for another 7 years.

Since The Cubs Last Won It All

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The years between the Cubs’ last World Series win and the Indians’ saw a lot of change as well. There were only 16 teams, but they were all in the same cities as they were in 1948. The Browns were in their 7th season in St. Louis after the Brewers moved from Milwaukee (yes, the Milwaukee Brewers were an American League team in 1901).

In 1908, the price of gas was 11 cents per gallon, a new car would cost around $950, a loaf of bread cost 5 cents, and a movie ticket cost 5 cents. The average American made about $500 per year and a new house cost $734 and you could order it from Sears.

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The first Ford Model T rolled off the line just nine days before the start of the 1908 World Series. The NAACP did not exist and plastic had not yet been invented. The Cubs did not have any Boy Scouts on their roster, as the organization was not established until 1910.

Halley’s Comet has made two appearances since the last Cubs World Series victory. The Ottoman Empire was still around, but only for another 14 years. The Titanic had not yet sunk, in fact, the designs had just been approved a few months before the Series and the keel would not be laid for another 5 months.

Nobody would be doing crosswords in the stands or the dugouts, and nobody would be eating Oreo cookies, as neither of those were created yet. Charlie Chaplin had not starred in his first film yet, and Daylight Savings was introduced. Winnie the Pooh was not even a figment in A.A. Milne’s imagination yet.

Between the Cubs winning the Series and the last time the Indians won it, there were two World Wars, tanks appeared on a battlefield for the first time, and planes made it possible to have battles in the sky.

Women were not yet allowed to vote. There were no billionaires yet, and no income tax. Route 66 did not exist, and neither did bubble gum. Sliced bread did not appear until 20 years after the Cubs won the Series.

The Cubs have never played in a televised World Series game. The first World Series that was televised was in 1947, two years after their last appearance. In fact, the TV had not been invented the last time the Cubs won it all.

Babe Ruth was only 13 years old, and it would be years before he got sold to the Yankees, thus cursing the Red Sox. It has been 108 years since the Cubs won the World Series. Is this the team to finally win it all? Well, they did break the Curse of the Billy Goat and are back in the World Series, and they do have the best team in baseball this year.

Drought Buster

This World Series will determine who gets the title of Drought Buster. Current Cubs general manager Theo Epstein was the architect of the 2004 Boston Red Sox while current Indians manager Terry Francona was their field general.

That Red Sox team swept the Series against the St. Louis Cardinals to give them their first World Series Championship since they beat the Cubs in 6 games in 1918, an 86 year drought. This year, either Francona will end the Indians’ 68-year drought or Epstein will end the Cubs’ 108-year drought. Either way, somebody will be the Drought Buster

Play of the Week

There are 2 plays of the week this week. The first is the last out of the ALCS and the ensuing celebration by the Cleveland Indians.

And, of course, there is the double play that sent the Chicago Cubs to the World Series for the first time since 1945.