This is the year: 44% of pundits picking Cubs to win World Series

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There might just be one heck of a party on the North Side of Chicago this October. Many expected the Chicago Cubs to be the class of Major League Baseball this year, and the experts agree. If they are right, the Cubs will be celebrating their first World Series title in 108 years.*
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It's not just us either (three of our six pundits selected the North Siders). We here at The Stew compiled World Series predictions from eight different national sports sites on the Internet. Of the 64 experts included in our sampling, 28 expect the Cubbies to finally end their World Series drought.*

In case you're curious about which experts chose which teams, we've got you covered. Below is a list of each pick, sorted by the most popular team (the Cubs) down to the two clubs that each received one vote:
CHICAGO CUBS
1. Tim Brown (Yahoo Sports)
2. Mark Townsend (Yahoo Sports)
3. Jeff Passan (Yahoo Sports)
4. Jonah Keri (Sports Illustrated/CBS)
5. Cliff Corcoran (SI)
6. Jay Jaffe (SI)
7. Emma Span (SI)
8. Ken Rosenthal (Fox)
9. Jon Morosi (Fox)
10. Jason Dovitz (Fox)
11. Matt Snyder (CBS)
12. Bill Baer (NBC)
13. Ted Berg (USA Today)
14. Bob Nightengale (USA Today)
15. Jim Bowden (ESPN)
16. Tristan Cockcroft (ESPN)
17. Christina Kahrl (ESPN)
18. Tim Kurkjian (ESPN)
19. Eddie Matz (ESPN)
20. Buster Olney (ESPN)
21. Doug Padilla (ESPN)
22. Mark Saxon (ESPN)
23. David Schoenfield (ESPN)
24. Jon Sciambi (ESPN)
25. Dan Shulman (ESPN)
26. Mark Simon (ESPN)
27. Dan Szymborski (ESPN)
28. Steve Wulf (ESPN)
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
1. Craig Calcaterra (NBC)
2. Steve Borelli (USA Today)
3. Gabe Lacques (USA Today)
4. Jorge L. Ortiz (USA Today)
5. Tony Blengino (ESPN)
6. Eric Karabell (ESPN)
NEW YORK METS
1. R.J. Anderson (CBS)
2. Mike Axisa (CBS)
3. Grant Brisbee (SB Nation)
4. Jesse Rogers (ESPN)
5. Katie Strang (ESPN)
6. Old Hoss Radbourn (Fox)
TORONTO BLUE JAYS
1. Dayn Perry (CBS)
2. Jim Caple (ESPN)
3. Scott Lauber (ESPN)
4. Jayson Stark (ESPN)
5. Adnan Virk (ESPN)
HOUSTON ASTROS
1. Steve Gardner (USA Today)
2. Aaron Boone (ESPN)
3. Andrew Marchand (ESPN)
4. Adam Rubin (ESPN)*
TEXAS RANGERS
1. Chris Cwik (Yahoo Sports)
2. Tom Verducci (Sports Illustrated)
3. Scott Boeck (USA Today)
4. Jerry Crasnick (ESPN)
KANSAS CITY ROYALS
1. Alex Cora (ESPN)
2. Pedro Gomez (ESPN)
3. Wallace Matthews (ESPN)
4. Jessica Mendoza (ESPN)
WASHINGTON NATIONALS
1. Israel Fehr (Yahoo Sports)
2. Ben Reiter (SI)
3. Eno Sarris (ESPN)
PITTSBURGH PIRATES
1. Mike Oz (Yahoo Sports)
2. Chris Myers (Fox)
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
1.*C.J. Nitkowski (Fox)
CLEVELAND INDIANS
1. Albert Chen (Sports Illustrated)*
There you have it, roughly 44 percent of the experts whose predictions we tallied believe the Cubs will win it all. While many believe Chicago is the place to be, 11 different teams were named in the poll. Only six percent expect the Royals to repeat as champs, while nine percent believe the runner-up Mets can get it done this year.*
Things may look positive now, Cubs fans, but don't celebrate just yet. The Cubs may look great on paper, but the Nationals appeared to be the best team in baseball prior to 2015 and we all know how that worked out.
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Ultimately, the club that survives the fray will need to be talented, stay healthy and catch a few breaks along the way. The Cubs may have that now, but a lot can change over the course of a lengthy 162-game season.
Does another team have what it takes to snag the preseason crown from the lovable lovers, or will destiny finally propel the Cubs to a championship?
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