You’ve probably heard the historic milestone dates by now: The Chicago Cubs have made it to the World Series for the first time since 1945. The Cleveland Indians have made it as well, the first time since 1997.

Of even greater significance: Should the Cubs win, it would be their first championship since 1908. Should the Indians win, the team would celebrate its first championship since 1948.

Games 3, 4, and 5 are being played at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

But what was the world like when these two teams started what is now an epic baseball journey?

Let’s put the historic dates into a pop-culture context, to demonstrate how much society has changed since each team’s last appearance and victory.

Suffice it to say, things have changed to an enormous degree.

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1908: What’s that grainy image up there, lacking in sound? Why, it’s some of America’s earliest films, many of which were directed by the legendary D.W. Griffith. His first nine films came out in 1908. Other filmmakers put up the earliest known film versions of “A Christmas Carol” and “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

Music experienced some seminal moments. “Take Me Out to The Ball Game” was first written in New York City, in the famous Tin Pan Alley — although it didn’t become the anthem of the seventh-inning stretch until 1934. Cubs fans replaced “root, root, root for the home team” with “root, root, root for the Cubbies” on some indeterminate date.

Meanwhile, Arturo Toscanini began a long conducting stint at the New York Metropolitan Opera, and New Orleans jazz was introduced to the West Coast. Columbia issued its first “flat disc recordings” — that is, records. They replaced Edison’s wax cylinders.

1945: “The War in Europe is Ended!” was the front-page headline in The New York Times on May 8. Yes, baseball was alive and well during World War II, as President Roosevelt announced in 1942, “I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going.” That was the best news for the Cubs, it seems.

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The year 1945 also saw the debut of J.B. Priestly’s famous, time-bending play “An Inspector Calls” and the famous musical “Carousel.”

Related: Surprise! World Series Tickets for World War II Vet

American film was starkly different during the war, offering optimistic newsreels, patriotic dramas and films generally celebrating America and the war effort. John Wayne’s famous “Back to Bataan,” Oscar-nominated “The Story of G.I. Joe” with Robert Mitchum, and John Ford’s classic “They Were Expendable” lit up the screens.

Those fabulous zoot suits were all the rage, as were pin-up girls, and an American icon debuted at Gimbel’s that Christmas: the Slinky! (Perhaps the Cubs should hand one out to each patron at the next game.)

1948: With the war over, America experienced a cultural boom. Television was just entering people’s homes, and the first broadcast of “The Ed Sullivan Show” occurred.

Americans back then would have been appalled at what’s transpiring today.

Even more important, the World Series was being televised for only the second time — so Cleveland Indians fans did not have to rely on play-by-play on the radio. There were several other television milestones during this year, including — believe it or not — the first ever matches of professional wrestling. CBS began its programming schedule, which included the first nightly network newscast, starring Douglas Edwards — who would now be rolling over in his grave, by the way, if he got a look at what passes for “news” in the leftist media.

The most famous paintings of Jackson Pollack “dripped” onto canvas. Laurence Olivier won an Oscar for his portrayal of Hamlet, while John Huston nabbed the directing trophy for “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.” Bing Crosby was the top money-making star of the day. We have to believe he’d be fond of today’s top name: Harrison Ford.

The concept of “suburbia” was catching on. A shortage of housing, and G.I.s returning from the war, forced the creation of neighborhoods outside of the urban areas.

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1997: Think for a moment about how all the people who were part of the milestones from 1908 to 1948 would react to the world of popular culture in 1997. The world was a vastly different place back then, of course, yet there was generally a sense of optimism regarding America and its place in the world.

Americans back then would have been appalled at what transpired in 1997. White House intern Monica Lewinsky was having an affair with Bill Clinton. Islamic terrorists killed 70 people in Egypt. Madeleine Albright began her tenure as a secretary of state. Sadly, Princess Diana died in a tragic car crash in the year 1997.

The year’s top-grossing film was the entertaining but ultimately pointless “Men in Black.” Boy bands were taking the world by storm. What would the crooners of the 1940s have said about the Backstreet Boys and Hanson? Would they have had heart attacks at hearing the hits of Notorious B.I.G. (“Mo Money, Mo Problems”) and Puff Daddy (“Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down”)? One thing is for sure: Paula Cole was lamenting, “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?”

Most of all, nobody was complaining about the team name “Indians” being offensive!