Seventy-one years.
That's not quite a lifetime today, but life expectancy for an American back in 1945 was in the mid-60s.
Since the Cubs dropped the 1945 World Series to the Tigers in seven games, the population of the United States has grown from nearly 140 million people to almost 325 million.
The earth has traveled more than 41 billion miles.
That's a whole lot of "wait till next year."
Actor Brian Doyle-Murray is a lifelong Cubs fan who was born on Oct. 31, 1945, three weeks to the day after the last game of the last World Series in which the Cubs played.
So he was 23 when the Mets overtook the Cubs in '69, 38 when they dropped three straight to the Padres in '84 and 57 when things went off the rails against the Marlins in '03.
Today he is 70, almost 71, which isn't so old. Yet he knew he didn't have much wait left in him.
"I've told friends that it might be a case like Mark Twain, who as you may know was born when Halley's Comet was overhead and died when it came over the next time," Doyle-Murray said. "So I've thought it may be a case where I have to give my life for the Cubs to win the pennant.
"And," he added, "I might be willing to do that so long as I can stick around for the World Series."
