Why fans fall hardest for the almost season
Sports fans love the year their team wins the championship. But there’s something funny about fandom — we’re often more sentimental about the year before the title.
Take the Cubs. I find myself more nostalgic for the 2015 team than the 2017 team.
In 2015, the Cubs were young, scrappy, and full of wonder. They made it to the NLCS — one step away from the World Series. Hope was alive. Every win felt like a discovery.
In 2016, they won the World Series.
In 2017, they reached the NLCS again — the same result as 2015 — but it didn’t feel the same.
You’d think those two seasons would hold equal sentimental value. Both came one step shy of the World Series. But no — the 2015 team is far more beloved.
Why is that?
The psychology of the “year before”
It turns out, there’s real psychology behind why that almost there season feels so magical.
1. The anticipation effect
Anticipation is often more emotionally powerful than fulfillment. Psychologists call this the anticipation effect — we feel more joy looking forward to something than actually experiencing it.
In 2015, the Cubs’ future was wide open. By 2017, the magic of discovery had been replaced by expectation — and expectation dulls wonder. Look at the 2017 All-Star team. None of the Cubs from the 2016 champion team were all-stars in 2017. Only Wade Miller made it to the 2017 All-Star team. (Wade Miller was not on the 2016 Cubs).
2. The first-time effect
We feel stronger emotions the first time something amazing happens.
The 2015 Cubs gave fans that first glimpse of greatness. They were the “wow, this could really happen” team.
The 2017 Cubs were seasoned veterans. Familiar. The novelty was gone.
Once you’ve seen the mountain top, the view from base camp isn’t as breathtaking.
3. The hedonic treadmill
After success, our emotional baseline resets.
In 2016, the Cubs reached the ultimate joy — breaking the 108-year drought. But by 2017, making the NLCS felt routine. That’s the hedonic treadmill: what once thrilled us becomes the new normal.
The 2015 season feels special because it belonged to a time when hope still felt new.
4. The romance of becoming
Humans romanticize becoming more than being.
The 2015 Cubs were in the process of becoming champions — a story in motion.
Once you’ve won, that innocence disappears. The story shifts from “What if?” to “Can they do it again?” And sequels rarely carry the same magic as the original.
The 2025 Cubs: becoming or ending?
So what about this year’s Cubs?
Right now, in October 2025, it’s unclear what kind of team this is. Are these the 2015 Cubs all over again — the team right before something incredible happens?
If the 2026 Cubs go on to win it all, this 2025 team will take on mythic weight. They’ll be remembered as the beginning of something. The year the foundation set.
But if 2026 fizzles, the 2025 Cubs risk becoming like the 2007 and 2008 squads — playoff teams that fade from memory, swallowed by “what could’ve been.”
That’s the beautiful tension of fandom. We don’t know, in the moment, which years will become legend and which will disappear into the box scores.
Right now, it might feel like a loss this season would be the end of everything.
But maybe it’s just the setup. Maybe the story is still being written.
And that’s why we love it — the almost years hold the purest kind of hope.