Chicago Cubs set a franchise record with their 13th consecutive home loss, falling to the Kansas City Royals 9-1

When the Chicago Cubs’ home losing streak reached 11 consecutive games in 1994, manager Tom Trebelhorn didn’t know what to say.

“There aren’t the words to describe this,” Trebelhorn told reporters. “They just haven’t invented the words.”

Actually there are words to describe the play of the ‘94 Cubs, but they still are not printable.

Trebelhorn’s Cubs ended their streak after 12 straight losses — and 27 years later that record has been broken.

The Cubs suffered their 13th consecutive home loss Sunday with a 9-1 defeat at the hands of the Kansas City Royals, ending the suspense early.

The “L” flag was raised once again over the center-field scoreboard, and the remnants of an announced crowd of 29,640 headed home — or perhaps to their favorite establishments, knowing they had just experienced a piece of Cubs history.

Starter Alec Mills took the loss, allowing seven runs on 11 hits over four innings, while the Cubs offense was lifeless again, knocking out five hits after notching only one hit Saturday in a 4-2 loss.

While the Cubs uniforms are the same and the renovated Wrigley Field bears a strong resemblance to its 1994 version, the two streaks are as different as night and day.

The ‘94 streak garnered attention for weeks, as it started with the home opener on April 4 and continued into May. It gradually gained more attention and was a pregame topic that Treblhorn was asked to address daily. The 2021 streak has gone virtually unnoticed in Chicago thanks to diminishing interest in the Cubs since the trade-deadline sell-off, not to mention the White Sox’s resurgence and the shift of attention to the start of the Chicago Bears season.

Manager David Ross wasn’t asked about the streak during his pregame press briefing Sunday and claimed a day earlier that he was unaware of the home skid. He has escaped blame for the historic streak because team President Jed Hoyer traded most of the team’s stars at its outset, dealing the manager a losing hand to play out the string.

The fallout from the 1994 streak didn’t come until later. Star second baseman Ryne Sandberg retired in June, while Trebelhorn and general manager Larry Himes were let go after the strike-shortened season.

Ross doesn’t have to worry about losing his job, and Hoyer isn’t going to fire himself.

There are no expectations on this team to do anything but play nine innings, so even with the losses piling up, the pressure is off the Cubs’ decision-makers for at least the rest of the season.

If the Cubs hadn’t won the World Series in 2016, who knows if things would be different?

In ‘94, the team’s marketing slogan was “If It Takes Forever,” a nod to the blind faith of Cubs fans despite what was then an 85-year championship drought. When the team was in the midst of setting its franchise-record home losing streak, its reputation as lovable losers was still relatively intact.

“This is a franchise with no image if it does not fail,” Tribune columnist Bernie Lincicome wrote during the streak. “ ‘If It Takes Forever’ boasts one of the officially licensed T-shirts. The natural enemy of the Cubs is expectation.”

But expectations changed after former President Theo Epstein’s rebuild made the Cubs into an annual contender, and with some of the highest ticket prices in the games, fans expect to see a winning product on the field. Not only is this team the polar opposite of that grand vision, the Cubs have only a few young players on the roster for fans to pin their hopes on in 2022.

One of those, shortstop Nico Hoerner, was removed from his first game of a rehab stint in Class-A South Bend on Sunday after tweaking his oblique injury. He’ll be reassessed Monday. Second baseman Nick Madrigal, acquired from the Chicago White Sox in the Craig Kimbrel trade, was already out for the season with a torn right hamstring and hasn’t been seen or heard from since the July 30 trade. Slugging third baseman Patrick Wisdom is being marketed as the next star, but Wisdom turns 30 on Friday.

Ian Happ and David Bote haven’t lived up to their early hype, and catcher Willson Contreras, their most popular player, remains on the injured list.

The Cubs’ biggest selling point is their iconic ballpark, which remains a must-see destination for many no matter how far back the team is in the standings. During the seventh-inning stretch Sunday, fans were shown on the giant video boards singing, waving and having a good time, seemingly oblivious to the daily drubbing of their favorite team.

It has been back to the future for Cubs fans since the July sell-off, and no one at Wrigley appears at all bothered by the inferior product, as long as the sun is out and the beer is cold. Discounted tickets on StubHub surely help ease the pain.

When the Cubs finally snapped their 12-game home losing streak in 1994, Trebelhorn reacted like the weight of the world was off his shoulders.

“One win does not a season make,” he said. “But one win, right now, may have saved a life.”

One win won’t make Ross’s season, but right now any old win would suffice.

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