Does this help the Cubs?

goodriddance189

the two "cursed" franchises, Cubs and Red Sox.

the Sox finally won it.

does this help the Cubs? i didn't believe in the curse at all. Babe Ruth went to the Yankees and became the toast of the nation, and arguably the greatest ballplayer of all time. yeah, he was sure bitter and out to get his former team. but i did believe in the incredible psychological pressure that hung over the Sox. and you could see it when they beat the Yanks- they were a totally different team. they DOMINATED the Cards. it was like the black cloud was finally lifted.

i think this helps the Cubs. they saw the Sox do it, and now they know anything is possible. they can calm down, and play baseball. and their team is damn good. starting pitching, sluggers, and some speed.

Cubs in '05

zsz70

I think what helps the Cubs is the
fact that they have the pitching to do this.

They have a pitching staff that CAN WIN next year.

Look how well the Cardinals did with a pitching staff
that is inferior to the Cubbies.

sjeanblanc

Cubs in 2005,

The problem is now Cub fans will be deprived of the excellent analytical skills of Steve Stone, a broadcaster
who suffered just as much as the fans with the poor play of this team and 20 other seasons of futility. Unfortunately this year he had to put up with the indignity of being acosted by players who were upset with his critical but true analysis. Moises Alou, don't let the door hit you in the a$$, Kent Merker, I hope they send you to Japan. I used to have alot of respect for Dusty Baker, but I have lost all of it, he should have had better control of this team and obviously didn't.

The only possible future conselation would be that a major network pick up Stone, and then he could broadcast the post season, instead of idiots like Tim McCarver, Al Leiter, and Steve Lyons.

A really pi$$ed off Cubs fan,

Scott J.

mr3holesinone

Babe Ruth ARGUABLY the best ballplayer of all time? NO ONE has EVER put up the kinds of numbers the Babe did. He still holds records as a Red Sox PITCHER! He out-homered the LEAGUE one year. He stole over 100 bases. My god, just look at his records compared to anyone else you want to. Plus he did all this while playing day games after partying all night many times...and there were no steroids back then...ok that should be put to rest. If not then think of what he faced. There were only eight teams in the league. The talent wasn't watered down like it is today. He faced a quality starter every time a game started.

The Cubs...are you serious?

The Cubs have had many chances similar to this in the past. In the late 60s/early to mid 1970s they had a hell of a team and still didn't come close. I'm not a Cubs fan but I can name several of their players: Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Ken Holtzman, Fergie Jenkins, Ernie Banks, Joe Niekro, Rick Reuschel, Jim Hickman, Joe Pepitone...this was before the Big Red Machine and when the Cardinals were terrible, all they had to do was beat the Pirates or Mets and they couldn't do that (Phillies and Expos were horrible too). Pirates had a pretty good team but not being able to beat the Mets? From 1967 to 1972 they finished 2nd or 3rd every year and that was with their best team in what 50 years?

So with arguably much better players the best they could manage was second place. The current Cubs wouldn't stand a chance against the Cubs of 32 years ago. Kerry Wood's arm is unreliable, he's always hurt, had a losing record this year. Greg Maddux doesn't have much longer; his ERA was over 4 this year. The Nomar experiment was a bust and a bad trade to boot. Sosa is on the decline now that his steroid bottle is gone. Moises Alou is gone. Prior and Clement had losing records...Zambrano was far and away much better than the other pitchers (except for Maddux, but see above). That leaves Ramirez and Lee as the two studs to build around. Yes, they're good, but no better than what several other teams have.

Best bet for a Cubs fan is to be satisfied with your place in the sports world. The Red Sox have taken all the pressure off of you now. You don't have to be scared that the Cubs will win anymore. Everyone loves the underdogs...ummm, dogs, so don't fret, you'll always be loved.

yawie99

The Cubs have the largest collection of beeyatches in baseball - ARod notwithstanding. From the manager down, they're laden with pussies, poor sports and hotheads. They're not going to win with the club they have now. I hope they never do.

mr3holesinone

The Cubs won't win for a long time. Their fate is safe. Was trying to remember a saying about the Cubs, can someone help me out? It goes something like this:

First in May, Last in September.

yawie99

Wait, you're not Ben. You just have his icon. Yea for the Arch!

mr3holesinone

I don't know Ben but if he has the Arch icon I'm pretty sure he'd agree with us.

yawie99

His ID is bengineno9, he has that icon and is a fellow Cards fan. I was totally oblivious to your ID, just saw the icon and thought I was talking with Ben. But, yeah, I'm sure he'd agree.

Cubfan

Sounds like someone has been eating left over World Series sour grapes.

However, if you had told me the Cubs would have taken the 2003 team and added a 16 game winner (Maddux), a gold glove 30 HR first baseman (Lee) and a near-.300 hitting catcher (Barrett) and said they would finish third, I would have never believed it. Of course, one never knows about the injury bug.

The Nomar trade was a wash at worst as the part-time split of Nomar and Perez fielded much better and had a much better BA and more hits that good old Alex Gonzales would have had times 3.

Getting rid of Alou and Sosa will be the best things they could have done. They were just poison in the clubhouse.

I too have lost a ton of respect for Baker as their clubhouse did things that no other clubhouse would have been allowed to do.

And Im with Scott - the loss of Steve Stone is a killer to Cubs fans.

They choked this year. Ill get over it as, although there were some great people like Maddux, Lee, Ramirez (a horse), and so on, there were just too many unlikable people on the team even for this 35 year die hard Cubs fan.

But they still are not that far off. They only had their starting staff intact and without injury for only a few weeks and still had to have a serious choke to miss the playoffs. Management just has to dump the trash and make big changes. They have already made a ton of organizational changes (New third base coach and entirely new training staff) and I know they will be extremely active in the off season.

We will see.