When Homer reaches out into the playing field to rob Bart of a pop-up catch, it refers to the infamous Steve Bartman incident at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, that occurred on October 14, 2003. In the eighth inning of Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, with the Chicago Cubs ahead 3-0 and holding a three-games-to-two lead in the best-of-seven series, Moisés Alou attempted to catch a foul ball off the bat of Florida Marlins 2B Luis Castillo. Cubs fan Steve Bartman reached for the ball, deflected it, and disrupted a potential catch by the Cubs outfielder. If Alou had caught the ball, it would have been the second out in the inning and the Cubs would have been just four outs away from winning their first NL pennant since 1945. Instead, the Cubs ended up surrendering eight runs in the inning and lost the game, 8-3. The next day, the Cubs were eliminated from the MLB playoffs, and Chicago's playoff futility would continue for another 13 years until their World Series title in 2016, marking a total of 108 years since their previous championship win in 1908. In this scene in "The Boys of Bummer" episode, Homer is dressed in the same clothes as Bartman on for what many Cubs fans was a fateful night.