The 21st day of October 2015 is known by fans as Back to the Future Day (or BttF Day for short). For the uninitiated, October 21 holds significance in the Back to the Future franchise for a number of reasons, including for fans of a baseball team once known for 100+ years as the Lovable Losers…
Time travel and baseball
BttF Day centers around a particular scene towards the beginning of Back to the Future Part 2. Leading characters Marty McFly, girlfriend Jennifer Parker, and Doc Brown jumped into the iconic GMC DeLorean time machine and traveled into October 21, 2015 and discover how their hometown of Hill Valley would look like in 30 years (or 26 years after the movie’s release). Among futuristic holographic movie adverts and hover cars, Marty also discovers that the Chicago Cubs have won the World Series against Miami.
By the time the BttF sequel released, it had been 81 years since the Chicago Cubs last won a World Series title and 44 years since they played their latest World Series appearance and lost to the Detroit Tigers (via the MLB). In fact, pop culture has made many predictions of when the Chicago Cubs will finally win their first World Series championship since the early 1900s, many of which were made in the years following the BttF sequel. You can look for two of these examples thanks to Rookie of the Year (1993) and the 2012 short-lived series Revolution (via IndieWire).
With all of the above in mind, how does the BttF depiction of the Cubbies compare to real life (including back in the ’80s)? The movie did mention the Cubs defeating Miami’s baseball team, but it isn’t quite as straightforward. While the Miami baseball team in 2015 (as well as ever since) is called the Miami Marlins, Miami did not have a baseball team in the ’80s. Even when the Marlins entered the MLB in 1993, they were originally called the Florida Marlins and took until 2012 to be renamed.
Not to mention, a Cubs vs Marlins World Series is impossible since both teams are in the National League instead of one or the other being in the American League. Despite these inaccuracies, ESPN in the real 2015 still reported how the Marlins mascot playfully referenced the BttF World Series prediction.
The future (mostly) rewritten
I still remember when the world finally reached the real October 21, 2015. That day was a school day for me, and I was wearing my Chicago Cubs baseball cap and a Back to the Future t-shirt (the latter of which I no longer own) to celebrate BttF Day. It was such a significant date in pop culture that even Marty McFly and Doc Brown visited Jimmy Kimmel on his talk show that very night and received a culture shock of not only how different 2015 actually is compared to the 80s, but also how the Cubs were not actually going to the World Series at all.
Sadly for Cubs fans, the BttF prediction could not come true, as on that same day (according to Baseball Reference), the Cubs were swept 4-0 by the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series (NLCS). If only the Cubs defeated the Mets instead, they would have at least made it to the 2015 World Series to face the eventual champions the Kansas City Royals. If only Cubs fans like myself knew when November 2 arrived that we were only a single year away from finally witnessing baseball history. *Whispers* Hint: Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.
A franchise anniversary
Granted, the Chicago Cubs should not be the main reason to celebrate BttF Day. On the flip side, 2025 does mark the 40th anniversary of the Back to the Future franchise. It’s just that the actual anniversary date was this past July… so needless to say, today’s upload is almost four months late. Oops!
Even then, it’s still not too late to celebrate the 40th anniversary. Fans can order merch and other apparel themed after the movie as well as having the limited time opportunity to watch Back to the Future’s theatrical re-release on Halloween next week (via Comic Book). On top of that, Amazon has their listing of the BttF 40th Anniversary Trilogy 4K Blu-Ray set available for purchase here. It also looks that the Amazon Exclusive 4K Trilogy Steelbook edition is set for release on Tuesday November 4.
Additionally, for gamers, may I also suggest checking out the Back to the Future episodes of the Angry Video Game Nerd (not excluding the Re-Revisited episode)? The old Cinemassacre trio of Mike Matei, James Rolfe, and Kyle Justin uploaded their BttF Day video 10 years ago as well.
