If you’re doing classic Americana summer word association, then “movies” and “baseball” would probably be right at the top of anyone’s list. So when these summer rights of passage combine, sometimes the result can be utterly sublime. Other times, the result is something on par with 1985’s “The Slugger’s Wife,” or even worse, 2001’s “Summer Catch.” In 1990, two science fiction films were released that foretold a future World Series result.
Today we look at how those two prophecies panned out.
How do those two sci-fi allusions from 34 years ago hold up today?
Total Recall
Tokyo Samurais set to face Toronto Blue Jays in Game Five of 2084 World Series
It’s extremely rare that a movie literally tells you its ending/plot trajectory two (some would argue even three) different times within the dialogue, but then again Total Recall was never your average, run-of-the-mill shoot ’em up.
In the end, it’s all really up to you the viewer- did the events of this action flick actually happen, or it was all just an implanted dream?
Set nearly a century into the future from its initial release, we learn early on that ESPN still has hegemony on the sports media industry in the year 2084. It’s obviously October too, as the “WORLD” is emphasized in this edition of the World Series.
The writer pitted one of MLB’s two foreign teams against a fictional team in a far off land that is known for loving the sport of baseball.
What’s really interesting about this prophecy is how the Blue Jays, just two years after the release of this film, appeared in and won their first World Series. They then repeated the next season. Canada then had a title drought for the three major sports within which they have a franchise.
The 2018-19 NBA Champion Toronto Raptors finally ended it
As for the Tokyo Samurais, well, we have a few decades yet for someone to start that franchise and build them into a National League pennant winner.
Of all the plot holes, far-fetched premises and unlike future prophecies in Total Recall, this one takes the take.
USA Today still has a print edition, called Mars Today, and it’s successful enough that they can legitimately market themselves as “The Newspaper of the Universe” and “#1 in the Galaxy.”
Back to the Future Part II
Chicago Cubs Sweep Miami in 2015 World Series
For some reason, USA Today also has a presence in this film as well, albeit much stronger. The Cubs World Series Back to the Future prophecy is certainly one that has been discussed and analyzed enough already, but most people still don’t know the origin of the bit.
The movie, set in 1985, 2015, 1955 and a dystopian 1985, was marketed with a trailer that included “It’s a future where anything can happen” and then cuts to the Cubs winning the World Series. That’s what happens when you get a film directed by a Chicago White Sox fan (Robert Zemeckis) and written by a St. Louis Cardinals fan (Bob Gale).
Credit them for being just one year off though; and Miami did get a MLB team just three years after this film came out. Of course, for this scenario to have actually played out in real life, you would have needed: the Marlins to rebrand/change their mascot to an alligator, and either them, or the Cubs, would have had to pull a Milwaukee Brewers/Houston Astros and switch leagues.
It’s also worth noting that Hill Valley in 2015 looks just like the new gentrification development adjacent to Wrigley Field/the SoDoSoPa neighborhood on “South Park.”
So kudos to them for sort of “calling” that one.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that just three years after this movie came out, a Cubs World Series win was also portrayed, once again extremely briefly, in another flick, but this one was a legit baseball film: 1993’s “Rookie of the Year.”
After beating the New York Mets to win the NL East and advance to the NLCS, the scene shifts to Henry Rowengartner back playing little league the following season. In the final scene, he flashes a Cubs World Series championship ring.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network and the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.