MLB

Behind the 1993 yearbook quote that eerily predicted Cubs World Series

For the first time in 108 years, the Cubs may have luck on their side thanks to one fan’s foresight 23 years ago.

In 1993, Michael Lee, a Chicago native who attended high school in California before moving back to his hometown, boldly predicted the Cubs’ next World Series title and turned a randomly chosen year into an extraordinary coincidence.

“Chicago Cubs,” Lee wrote under his senior-year photo in Mission Viejo High School’s yearbook. “2016. World Champions. You heard it here first.”

Michael Lee’s senior-year yearbook photoFacebook

Lee’s high school classmate, Marcos Meza of Temecula, Calif., was reminded of the yearbook post in 2009, 16 years after graduation, when he and Lee reconnected through Facebook.

“I always thought that was the coolest quote I’d ever seen: ‘You heard it here first,'” Meza told The Post. “Mike said, ‘I can’t believe you remember that! I threw my yearbook away.’ So I pulled out my old yearbook and sent him a photo.”

The yearbook resurfaced again Saturday after the Cubs defeated the Dodgers in Game 6 to advance to the World Series. Meza, a Dodgers fan who nonetheless admits he was “waiting” for the moment he could show the world Lee’s teenage prescience, posted the photo on his Facebook page Monday morning.

“I was just waiting, and when the Dodgers got eliminated, I jumped back on the Cubs bandwagon,” Meza, 41, said. “From there, it’s gone viral and people are even claiming it’s Photoshopped.”

In response to the disbelievers, Meza says there was no rationality behind Lee’s decision to go with the year 2016. If the Cubs win, he’s the anti-Steve Bartman, the one to break the 108-year curse.

But if the Cubs lose, prolonging the longest World Series title drought — by far — in MLB history?

“I think he’s worried about the pressure of jinxing this,” Meza said. “I totally forgot about that Bartman incident.”

With Game 1 of the World Series Tuesday night, both Meza and Lee are holding their breath for a Cubs win and the start of something special.

“I was telling Mike’s brother, ‘Mike will be that guy in Chicago who will never have to buy a beer again,'” Meza said when asked how Lee’s life might change if the Cubs win. “People will say, ‘That’s the guy that made it happen.'”