Happy New Year 2017!

2016 brought the Cubs and us as fans everything we’ve dreamed of and wished for all our lives: A World Series championship.

Not to be greedy or anything, but I’d like another one in 2017. The last time the Cubs won World Series before 2016, they did it back-to-back, so why not just do that again?

I hope 2017 brings you health, happiness and success in every one of your endeavors. As Cubs fans, we have just enjoyed the most memorable season in any of our lifetimes. With the current leadership and roster, we certainly stand to have more years like this in the near future.

But whatever happens in 2017, our journey as Cubs fans will be different. Never again (hopefully!) will we have a long World Series or pennant drought to suffer. We can all rest in the knowledge that we have, at last, witnessed what so many generations of Cubs fans didn’t.

“Defending World Series champions” — that’s what the Cubs will be all next year. Sounds good to me.

Here’s the full-size version of the photo at the top of this post:

Photos: Getty Images (fireworks), David Sameshima (marquee). Photo illustration: Mike Bojanowski

And you can click here for an even larger version of the image above.