World Series means Cubs can do what they want, including gouge

Why are the Cubs raising ticket prices so dramatically? Because they can.

The public rationale they used to explain their big, fat price increase was a bunch of nonsense. They said they needed to continue to invest in the product, to continue to provide “tremendous access’’ to season-ticket holders and blah, blah, blah.

No, they’re raising ticket prices by an average of 19.5 percent for next season because they can. They won a World Series, and now it’s time for everyone to pay up.

Because you will.

If you were under the impression that the Cubs, led by Tom Ricketts’ down-homey smile, were some sort of quaint farm operation, complete with a quilt on the barn, well, now you know. They want your money, as much of it as they can get, just like every other sports franchise does. That’s the No. 1 goal of every team in sports.

You don’t see major-league owners doing whatever it takes to build a winner, their finances be damned, do you? You don’t hear of many baseball teams overspending on players at the risk of going bankrupt, do you?

Winning is simply permission to get more of your money, and, boy, are the Cubs winning at that game. The cost of infield club box seats is going up 31 percent next season.

Besides building a great team, the Cubs under Ricketts family ownership have added on to what was already a great culture. The team is fun, Wrigley Field is fun and, by association, you’re fun too. But it wasn’t so fun sitting through those miserable rebuilding seasons, and fans deserve better than the hit to the checkbook the Cubs are giving them now. A more incremental price increase would have been a classy “thank you’ to the paying customers who had put up with all that wretchedness. As a reminder, the losing seasons under the Rickettses, starting in 2010: 75-87, 71-91, 61-101, 66-96 and 73-89.

What did the Cubs do after they finally broke through with 97 victories in 2015? They raised ticket prices by 10 percent, giving them the third-highest prices in the majors, behind the Red Sox and the Yankees, respectively. The near-20 percent increase for next season could very well make Cubs’ tickets the most expensive in baseball.

There won’t be a fan revolt against it. In case you haven’t heard, the Cubs won a World Series for the first time in 108 years. That trumps everything. You say parking prices are horrendous near Wrigley Field? The Cubs won the World Series. You say you contracted bubonic plague at a Wrigley construction site? The Cubs won the World Series. Couldn’t get into the college you wanted? You’re being audited? She didn’t show up at the altar? The Cubs won the World Series.

The franchise knows that if disgruntled season-ticket holders decide not to re-up for next year, a long line of people is ready to take their place. If it thought it could get away with doubling ticket prices without a public-relations mushroom cloud, it would have. And enough of you would have bought the tickets anyway.

If there’s anything more empowering than a trophy, I don’t know what it is.

Welcome to the big leagues, where might makes right. I think most fans, at least on some level, felt a little dirty after news of the price increase hit. It didn’t sit right. It looked opportunistic, and that’s a nice way of putting it.

But for the most part, there was a shrug, not of indifference but of surrender. That shrug said, “What are you going to do?’’ The answer, of course, is nothing. You’re going to take it and swallow it and keep cheering for the champion Cubs.

But the increase surely will mean more families being priced out of taking in a game at Wrigley. We’re easily talking a total of $400 or $500 for good seats, food, drink and parking for a family of four. Pull up a chair, junior. You’re watching the game from home.

Again, it can’t be stressed enough: The Cubs finally won a World Series. There were few things fans wouldn’t have agreed to in order to make that happen – including giving a warm welcome to a hard-throwing, girlfriend-abusing closer. So it follows that there are few things that are going to get in the way of their buzz over a long overdue championship.

But never forget the team’s six-year business plan: We’re going to rebuild this franchise, sell you on hope and promise during reconstruction, and, when the whole thing finally comes to fruition, make you pay through the nose for it.

The Cubs sure have a funny way of showing gratitude.