History is hope for Cub faithful
The Reverend Thomas C. Willadsen
Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the Chicago Cubs' most recent ouster from the Major League Baseball postseason, I too decided, after investigating the matter carefully, to write an account to you, Baseballphile, so that you may know the truth and be lifted out of darkness into the light and peace of hope, which, as Cub fans well know, is the evidence of things not seen. Such as a championship since the Roosevelt Administration. (That's the Theodore Roosevelt Administration, for those of you keeping score at home).
The 2008 season had some undeniable highlights: The Cubs had the best record in the National League; Geovany Soto is certain to be Rookie of the Year; and my seven year old son, David, attended his first Cub game on August 29, and they won.
Still, I saw the handwriting on my windshield, traced in the morning dew by my neighbor, on Sunday. "Sorry about the Cubs," Beck wrote while taking her terrier for her morning constitutional. She's a good neighbor, so is Ken, her husband, who slid me a pair of tickets to the Cub-Brewer game on July 31. My older son, Peter, attended with me. I bought Ken a whiskbroom to express our gratitude for letting us be present for this four game sweep.
Rather than analyzing the reasons for the Cubs' postseason collapses, I suggest we examine the two microns of postseason success our nine have enjoyed since the MTV era.
First, recall the dramatic end of the 1998 season. The Cubs lost a heartbreaker to the Astros, minutes later, the Giants, having blown a seven-run lead, fell to the Rockies. The next day a play-off game was held for the Wild Card berth. Our boys went into the 9th leading 5-0. The Giants had scored three times, when Joe Carter came to the plate, representing the tying run. Carter popped out to Mark Grace in foul territory. Pandemonium ensued. The Cubs were the National League Wild Card winner.
That they were swept in three games by the Atlanta Braves hardly mattered.
Fast forward to 2003, when the Cubs won an anemic Central Division and again faced the Braves. This time the Northsiders defeated the Braves three games to two. The Cubs won a postseason series; you can look it up. While most Baseballphiles remember Game Six of the League Championship Series, I urge you to think on Game Five of the Division Series. The Cubs were leading 4-0 in the bottom of the 6th inning, when the Braves put the first two men on. Gary Sheffield hit a soft liner to center which Kenny Lofton caught, though the umpire ruled it a trap. This is the moment, Baseballphiles, when the Cubs would come undone. Surely, with the Cubs' pattern of postseason failure, the Braves would capitalize on this break. This time, pitcher Kerry Wood induced Chipper Jones to hit into an inning-ending double play. End of threat; our boys prevailed 5-1.
What do these moments of glory have in common? History, Baseballphiles, history.
Shortly before the Berlin Wall fell, the Giants defeated the Cubs four games to one in the League Championship Series. Nine years later, the Cubs defeated those same Giants in the play-off for the Wild Card. That same year, the Braves defeated the Cubs in the Division Series, but five years later, the Cubs topped the Braves. The pattern is obvious, oh ye of little faith.
The Cubs only win in the postseason against teams that have already defeated them. The list of future victims is growing, as the Cubs have lost postseason series to the Padres, Giants, Braves, Marlins, Diamondbacks and now Dodgers.
As next season ends, and the Cubs again win the division, let us hope that they will face one of their former conquerors in the first round, and another in the second round. They will then cake walk to the Series.
History cannot, however, offer any guidance to how they will fare there, nor can I. I'm in sales, not management.
Baseballphiles, draw hope: Maybe next year will be next year.
This column first appeared in the Oshkosh Northwestern October 14, 2008.