Will it be a summer of love for Cubs?
Posted: Thursday, February 14, 2008 7:37 PM
Ryan Dempster stood before cameras and microphones and uttered the words that one Cub seems to speak every spring. They are the words that every Cub fan wants to hear. After all it's been 100 years since the franchise's last World Series.
“Enough of all the bull, the curse this, the curse that, the goat, the black cat…” Dempster declared. This is the year, he said, to forever bury the ghosts of a century of Cubs baseball.
Those interested in details would not hesitate to remind all that Carlos Zambrano made the same comments last spring. And Zambrano is now quiet. But that would derail the story.
Indeed, this is about unleashing the greatest party in American history, the celebration that will follow a Cubs’ World Championship. In 1984, the area known as “Rush and Division” in Chicago became a human trough of alcohol after the Cubs broke a 39-year postseason drought by winning the NL East. That night, a group of young Minnesota Twins players, in town to play the White Sox, watched the revelry in awe -- little could they know that three years later they would unleash a similar mania upon the Upper Midwest.
Another division title was won by the Cubs in 1989, only to be followed by October disappointment as Will Clark of the Giants single-handedly destroyed the hopes of the lovable losers getting to a World Series.
In 1998, a wild-card berth, won in a one-game playoff, created such frenzy in Chicago that the San Francisco Giants had to pay Chicago police in cash (the thought is mind-boggling, I admit!) to part a Blue Sea of drunken Cubs fans…after midnight on a Monday...so that the team buses could leave Wrigley Field for the airport.
Now we won’t even go near 2003 and Bartman, but suffice to say the evidence is great that a Cubs victory party would unhinge Chicago.
How could this happen? Not easily as we well know.
First hurdle: the pressure. No longer are they the lovable Cubbies, mascots to a city. Nor are they any longer the characters providing entertainment in a theme park. That ended the night of Bartman.
Now they are the Cubs of the $115 million payroll. They are the Cubs who have freely spent massive amounts of money to finally end this curse, to stop the conversation that has been a toxin to this franchise for decades. They are the Cubs who are supposed to win. And that’s a hell of a burden in Chicago.
Ask Dusty Baker. He managed the Cubs to within a Bartman distance of the Grail, a World Series. The next year a veteran team simply choked away a playoff spot in the final 10 days and suddenly it was Baker’s fault. Ask Dusty if anything in Chicago is “lovable.” The city has fallen victim, as much as any in our land, to the sickness of “now.” Fueled by talk radio, Internet chatter and tabloids, Chicago is no different than the Bronx. Win today -- no excuses allowed.
Second hurdle: their identity. Who owns the Cubs now? A real-estate tycoon from Chicago, Sam Zell, but he doesn’t want the team. And with his bank account in mind he is complicating matters immensely for everyone by insisting on selling a 94-year-old ballpark to a public agency while the team goes separately to private buyers. Zell thinks he can make more money by splitting the sale of Wrigley Field and the franchise. Of course, one might reasonably ask who would buy a team with a massive payroll and no control over its aging but beloved ballpark?
The Cubs spent over $300 million last winter to win 85 games, not a great return on their investment. But the mediocrity of their division earned them a playoff berth and the chance to realistically sell hope for this year.
Third hurdle: the Mets, more specifically, Johan Santana. The acquisition of the two-time Cy Young Award winner returned the Mets to the position they held last offseason: the NL team to beat. On paper the Cubs are clearly the favorites in their division, but the Mets appear rock solid and the D’Backs and Rockies are still loaded with young, burgeoning talent.
So how can the Cubs win? Move around the diamond. Geovany Soto must blossom as a rookie catcher and prove he can handle Zambrano as well as the day games in the Chicago summer. Can Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez anchor the lineup, providing the meaningful hits that fuel champions? Is Felix Pie ready to claim center field? Will new right fielder Kosuke Fukudome be more Matsui than Shinjo?
There are more questions. Who closes? Carlos Marmol has a filthy slider, but does he have the head to pitch the ninth inning? If not, is Kerry Wood fit for a renaissance in the late innings? He showed flashes of brilliance in the playoffs. Dempster and Bobby Howry are still on board, but does anyone believe that’s enough to finish October games?
In the NL Central who challenges the Cubs? Baker is back in Cincinnati, but the Reds have a ton of pitching questions to answer. The Cardinals have broken up most of their World Series team of 2006 and need a rebound from Chris Carpenter. Houston has to find someone to pitch the games Roy Oswalt can’t and hope that Miguel Tejada’s looming legal issues aren’t an unwelcome distraction.
Milwaukee is the only real obstacle. The Brewers return most of the same team from a year ago, albeit with some regulars in different spots (Bill Hall to third base from center field, the defensively challenged Ryan Braun from third base to left field). Mike Cameron will provide a steady veteran presence in the clubhouse, but this team’s fate, as it was in 2007, will be determined on the mound. Can Ben Sheets pitch an uninterrupted year as the ace? Can Eric Gagne pitch past the Mitchell Report and reestablish himself as a closer? Do the Brewers have the depth of arms to match the Cubs pitching strength?
Another fun summer race looms. Only 90 miles separate the ballparks of the Brewers and Cubs, but the cultures feel 90 light years apart. Brewers fans support their team and have yet to inflict their team with the vitriol that often follows losing.
So, here’s the pressure question rising again. Can the Cubs win early in the season to establish a positive atmosphere at Wrigley (or whatever it’s called if the bright lights of management have their way and sell naming rights? An aside: in the 1980s, the Tribune Company installed a banker as a team executive. His brilliant plan to thwart the growing problem of rooftop owners selling seats to watch games from across the street: erect a massive screen from foul pole to foul pole. A giant Blue Monster, if you will, that would block the views in but also block the beautiful views out of Wrigley. Before long, the wizard of banking was asked if he wanted to run the Rawlins, Wyoming branch).
Anyway, if the Cubs win early, they create a Summer of Love in Chicago. If they can win their division, they’ll enter the “Pressure Zone,” an October where every word and every story will be about curses, goats and Bartmans. I don’t know if that’s something to root for, nor do I believe it’s something the Cubs can thrive within.
