My brother, who works in San Francisco, got an invitation to see the Giants play the Chicago Cubs Tuesday night from a luxury skybox. The accommodations were nice: no standing in line for bathrooms or concessions here. The play on the field, at least for Giants fans, was not. Pitcher Matt Cain didn’t have his good stuff and got belted around. My brother left the game with the Cubs up 6-0, and the final score was 8-5.
With their 21-4 record over the last 25 games, there’s no doubt that the Cubs are not only for real but have made firm reservations for October, at least as a wild-card team. With a few free-agent exceptions, they have done it with players with unfamiliar names who would attract little attention on the street out of uniform. They are balanced–sixth in the National League both in hitting and pitching—and they now may be the most feared team in baseball in regard to playoff matchups.
I still have enough Cub fan in me to wish them well but also to feel for them a bit of trepidation. Octobers are not kind to the Cubs and their fans, and it is hard not to envision either a mercy killing in the first round, as happened to the 2008 Cubs, or a more extended and dramatic tragedy like in 2003 and 1984. On the other hand, they have Theo Epstein at the helm, and he has already guided the similarly afflicted Boston Red Sox to the promised land—not once, but twice. If he succeeds with the Cubs, they should open a general manager’s wing in Cooperstown and induct him forthwith. A waiting period would just be a formality.
