The Curse of the Balboni has been lifted, along with the
Ex-Cub factor curse, in this year's
World Series.
The Curse began with the 1985 Kansas City Royals and Steve Balboni, who hit 36 home runs that year. From 1985 to 2000, there were 43 teams that made the baseball playoffs with a hitter who hit more than 36 home runs for them. None of them won the World Series. (Note that David Justice does not count for the 2000 New York Yankees, as he hit 41 home runs on the year, but only 21 of them as a Yankee.)
The 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks had four ex-Cubs to the Yankees' zero, and they had Luis Gonzalez, who is not only an ex-Cub, but who hit 57 home runs to eclipse Balboni's output, as an everyday player. Gonzalez drove in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game Seven of the World Series.
Is there any real significance to this? Probably not. Does this mean that the Cubs themselves will lift the Curse of the Goat next season? I'm not that optimistic.
Source: Baseball Prospectus