Finally Ready to Talk about the Playoffs (Kind of)

This wasn’t the context in which I expected to talk about the MLB playoffs during the second weekend of October.

I don’t believe in curses, and I’m not one of the people my brother describes as “self-loathing Cubs’ fans.” My Chicago-residing brother talks of that breed a lot and says there are many of them in his part of the country — in the media and among the public. These are the folks who claim to be pulling for the Cubs but are clearly just waiting for the collapse, knowing that there’s no way the Cubs will actually win. This sad group of so-called fans, says my brother, is lost when the Cubs do achieve success.

Of course, the ultimate measure of success is league championships and World Series titles, and we all know how long it’s been since either has been achieved by my team of choice.  But that honestly wasn’t in my mind when I travelled from Kansas to Chicago on October 1 to witness Game 1 of the National League Division Series.  It only took a couple of days to grossly derail my hopes. 

Still, the Ryan Dempster walkathon, followed by the Game 2 infield errorfest didn’t make me believe at any moment that my team was doomed for long-term failure and may, in fact, never win another World Series.  No, the NLDS simply pissed me off, prompting living room tirades, elevated blood pressure and the general feeling that much of the energy I’d spent over the last six months had been flushed down the toilet.

So now the “Wait Til Next Year” kids are left to do just that.  There should be high expectations again for Lou Piniella and crew come Spring 2009, and hopefully they’ll earn the chance to show a little more fight in October.  Is there more pressure on the Cubs than on other teams when the playoffs roll around?  Well, they’re the Lovable Losers, so why should they feel pressure to win?  But when the stands are so often filled with signs that read “It’s Gonna Happen” and “This is Next Year” it’s clearly more than just the weight of the North side on your shoulders.  It is indeed the weight of 100 years.

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And where does that leave me, the jilted fan who has to watch yet another MLB Final Four that doesn’t include the Cubs?  While I’ve been led to believe that all of the baseball world wants to see Manny vs. the Red Sox, I’m hoping for the opposite.  Yes, it would be awfully painful for a Cubs’ fan to see a team so young as the Rays to reach the World Series, but the alternative is the Red Sox.  And to that I say “No thanks.”  Frankly, the Rays have earned it.  The team has been built the right way, relying largely on its on system and making a few savvy moves to bring in the likes of Kazmir, Garza and Pena to help lead the way.  It’s not like the front office has spent its way to the top.

But when it comes down to it, I go back to the National League.  Watching Game 1 of the NLCS, just one electric inning of it actually, made me pine for more postseason action at Wrigley Field.  Although it can’t be at Wrigley, I can at least take sides against the Dodger Blue.

Color me a phanatic.