The Hundred Year Itch

The 2008 Major League Baseball Season has kicked off with Boston off to a smashing success in defending their 2007 World Series Title. And while most of us are not terribly interested in the “other” league, there are some interesting things to consider.

For the first time since 2000, the season has begun in Japan. Harkening back to 2000, it was the Chicago Cubs and their nemesis New York Mets that squared off before flying back to the US to continue what would end up being a dismal season.

The Cubs led off on March 29th by winning 5-3 as the “visitors” and unbeknownst to Cub faithful, some benchmarks were achieved that day. Most notably and saddest, the fact that they had reached their high water mark FOR THE SEASON of 1 game over .500!!! The next day, playing a “home” game, they lost 5-1 in eleven innings (damn you, Benny Agbayani and your pinchhit grand slam!)

So back to America they came, an even 1-1 record. They would never see .500 for the remainder of the 2000 season. In fact they would finish 30 games back at 65-97 in Don Baylor’s inaugural season.

Was it the 12,640 mile round trip road trip that did them in? Could be. Maybe they didn’t get back on US or Chicago time until mid-May. That could certainly explain the funk they were in for the season. Until you look over to the Eastern Division and see that the New York Mets travelled 13,486 miles and finished the season 94-68, Wild Card winners of the National League and eventual runners up to the New York Yankees in the World Series.

Hmmm. Not the travel schedule then. Could it be the talent? Oh diggedy dog, yes. As is always the case (at least for the last 100 years) it was the talent. The Cubs starting line-up that year had one player under the age of 30. The world famous Willie Greene manned the hot corner at age 28. Other stellar performers on the diamond for our boys were Ricky Gutierrez at shortstop and Damon Buford in centerfield.

Our starting pitching was able to produce one double digit winning hurler (Jon Lieber, with 12). Scott Downs held down the 4th spot in the rotation and Rueben Quevedo and Ismael Valdez took turns as the fifth starter.

And yet somehow, as Cub fans, we believed that 2000 was our year. In the ‘70’s when we had Steve Ontiveros, Davey Rosello and Joe Wallis fielding their way to infamy, we still believed that this was our year. That is the glory and the failing of Cub fans. We embrace Bump Wills and believe that his game opening home run in Cincinnati to start the 1982 season was a sense of great things to come. But how could it when we had 36 year old Larry Bowa playing shortstop and Gary Woods running around in left, center and right? Karl Rhodes homers three times off Dwight Gooden in 1994 and we still lose 12-8 on the way to a 5th place finish, 35 games below .500.

And yet again we are seven days away from Opening Day, fully believing that D. Lee, Soriano, Fukadome, Wood, Zambrano and Lilly will lead us to the promised land. The baseball gods have it in their plans. Once every 100 years the Cubs and their fans will get a taste. Jack Brickhouse was wise beyond any of our expectations, a franchise really can have a bad century. It all ends now. Next year is here! Beware Red Sox, we have you in our sights and we are loaded.