As we await the Cubs vs. Padres wild-card series beginning tomorrow at 2:08 p.m. CT, let’s take a look back at the team’s long Modern Era postseason history. That history dates to 1906, when the team lost the World Series to the White Sox after winning a record 116 games during the regular season — a mark that still stands (though tied by the Mariners in 2001).

You know, of course, of the 108-year drought between World Series wins in 1908 and 2016, and the rest of the team’s post-1908 postseason history is, shall we say, not really very good.

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Entering this year, the Cubs had participated in 21 postseasons with an overall record of 47-75-1. That’s a .385 winning percentage, equivalent to a 62-100 regular season. Yikes.

The tie happened in the pre-lights era 1907 World Series, when Game 1 went 12 innings at West Side Grounds in a 3-3 tie and then was called for darkness. The Cubs won the next four games and the World Series, becoming the first team to win the championship series without losing a game.

Here are the Cubs’ records for each of the 21 postseasons in which they have participated before this year.

1906: 2-4
1907: 4-0-1
1908: 4-1
1910: 1-4
1918: 2-4
1929: 1-4
1932: 0-4
1935: 2-4
1938: 0-4
1945: 3-4
1984: 2-3
1989: 1-4
1998: 0-3
2003: 6-6 (3-2 NLDS, 3-4 NLCS)
2007: 0-3
2008: 0-3
2015: 4-5 (1-0 NLWC, 3-1 NLDS, 0-4 NLCS)
2016: 11-6 (3-1 NLDS, 4-2 NLCS, 4-3 WS)
2017: 4-6 (3-2 NLDS, 1-4 NLCS)
2018: 0-1 (NLWC)
2020: 0-2 (Wild card series)

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Overall by round:

Wild card game/series: 1-3
NLDS: 12-15
NLCS: 11-21
WS: 23-36-1

Obviously none of those records is very good, and it includes nine straight losses from 2003 through 2008 before the Wild Card Game win against the Pirates in 2015.

Now, if you’ll indulge me a bit, I present to you my personal records of attending Cubs postseason games. The Cubs have played 70 postseason games in my lifetime (the games from 1984 to now). Two of those games, the wild-card series vs. the Marlins in 2020, were during the pandemic season and not open to fans.

Of the 68 Cubs postseason games open to fans since 1984, I have attended 50 — all 32 played at Wrigley Field plus 18 road games, as follows: two in San Diego (1984), three in San Francisco (1989), three in Miami (2003), two in Arizona (2007), one in Pittsburgh (2015), two in St. Louis (2015), two in San Francisco (2016) and three in Los Angeles (2016).

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Personal W/L record in all postseason games attended:

1984: 2-2 (2-0 home, 0-2 road)
1989: 1-4 (1-1 home, 0-3 road)
2003: 4-6 (2-5 home, 2-1 road)
2007: 0-3 (0-1 home, 0-2 road)
2008: 0-2 (all home)
2015: 4-3 (2-2 home, 2-1 road)
2016: 8-5 (5-3 home, 3-2 road)
2017: 2-3 (all home)
2018: 0-1 (home)

Total personal record: 21-29 (14-18 home, 7-11 road). Of the 50 games, more than half (26) came between 2015 and 2018.

Beginning Tuesday, the Cubs will try to improve on that postseason record, and I hope to notch a few personal postseason wins as well. Go Cubs!