Say Hello To Your 2007 NL Central Division Champs!

Greatest. Birthday present. Ever.

This is the first time the team has gone to the playoffs twice in five years since sometime in the 1930's. Wow.

Everyone be sure to send a thank you note to Greg Maddux tomorrow, and one to Jim Hendry because it turns out he knew what he was doing all along.

Oh and then, buy a t-shirt to celebrate the moment. Come on, you know you want to.


We'll be ramping up the Cubs coverage here as the playoffs begin, because you only get a chance to cover something like this once every ten years or so. And by the next time we make it in, blogging may be out of style for all I know. So check back later and see what we've got going on.

Even Massive Thunderclouds That Can't Pitch Have a Silver Lining

The Cubs gave up 7 runs to the Marlins tonight, of all teams. You may have already noticed this. Apparently the pitching staff knows something we don't and has decided that we don't need to win any more of our games this season to make the playoffs. One of these expanded roster call-ups better be clairvoyant, because if we keep drowning and the Brewers don't lose at least 3 more games my single playoff ticket is useless. And you don't want to see me angry. Actually, that would probably be slightly funny. What you don't want to see me is crying in the corner because I didn't get to go to the playoffs. That would be both sad and depressing.

Anyways, the Brewers miraculously lost to the Cardinals tonight. Pitching staff, get back on your horse. I want this thing wrapped up by Friday. That would make a pretty spectacular birthday present.

A-Rod Wants to Own AND Play For Your Team

The Cubs just destroyed the Pirates, virtually locking up the Central Division. But that's not the big news of the day.

ESPN reports that not only is it possible that Alex Rodriguez could play for the team next year, but he may receive an ownership stake as well in the potential contract. Read the full report here, and try not to wet yourself with excitement.

Can You Feel It?

Ahhhh, late September. It begins to get cooler, my birthday is coming up, and the smell of playoffs is in the air. Wait a second, did I say playoffs?

That's right everybody, the playoffs are rapidly approaching and with a 2.5 game lead this late in the season I am no longer afraid of jinxing the team. We will make the playoffs, and guess who's gonna be there. That's right, ME.

This is the part where I should try to drive up traffic by offering someone a ticket to go with me so everyone would compete for it, but there's a slight problem with that. First of all, it's 60 bucks a ticket and I don't know if I love you all that much. Secondly, I only got one ticket. I woke up at 8:30, got about 50 tabs open in Firefox, and by the time I got through all that was left was single seats for the first home game. I could have waited for standing room, but I just wanted to make sure I got into the game. So that's that. I'm going to the game alone, and I don't care. These opportunities only come by once every 5 years or so.

Looking at Craigslist I could probably get 300 bucks for my ticket, but what kind of fan would I be if I did that? If you think that's bad, you should see what people are charging on StubHub for the World Series. Anyone got $2,400 lying around?

I guess I can only pray that I get the opportunity to drain my bank account to see a Cubs World Series game. But let's take one step at a time here. Go Cubs.



EDIT: Looks like the gap will be 3.5 after today. Remind me to thank the next Braves fan I meet.

Jacques Jones is Dead to Me

Look JJ, can I call you JJ? Is that okay? Because the whole french thing just isn't doing it for me, and I'm gonna assume that you don't approve of being called Jock. So JJ it is. Anyways, here's the deal JJ. I want to like you as a player, I really do. Then again, I also want to win the lottery, date Jessica Alba, and own a small island nation. Some things just weren't meant to be.

Ever since you first came to this historic ballclub in 2006 you've had some issues. First of all you called out the fans for booing you. I don't know where this idea came from that fans aren't supposed to care how well their team is playing and they should always cheer, even if their 50 bucks just went to waste to watch a crappy performance. I know you ended off the year well and you feel that your complaints were well-founded, but the fans weren't booing you at the end of the year. We were booing you when you were batting .219 through your first 21 games. And that was a vast improvement over the .091 you were sporting after your first 8. You were the first of the recent string of Cubs players who feel like the fans should happily accept someone getting paid millions who sucks at their job *cough* Big Z *cough*. And for that, I cannot like you.

And then there are nights like tonight. At first glance it looks like you had a good night, going 3-for-6 with a run. But you just can't pull through in the clutch. You're not the only one by far, the team left 15 men on base in this game and only scored 4 runs with 10 hits and 10 walks. But it seems like every time you come up to the plate when the game is on the line, I'm reaching for the OFF button on the remote before they throw you a pitch. Because I know what's going to happen. It is for this reason that my friends and I have dubbed you "The Human Rally Killer". And now, thanks to the magical powers of the internet and Wikipedia, the whole world shall know you by this name.

Hey, at least you'll be remembered for something. My best shot right now is "the guy who pretended that he got Wade Miller fired".

Calling out Carlos

That's right Big Z, I'm talking to you. I know you're an avid reader.

Tonight is a must win for you. Go out, earn your money, and let's get a W. I know you got it in you.

It's the (expletive) Pirates.

Uh Oh...

Recently reacquired Cubs Steve Trachsel faces off against the stellar Brad Penny and the Dodgers tonight. I don't see this going very well.

Also, the Cubs players have all decided to start crying about the fans actually expecting decent baseball. More on this later when I've settled down and I have time to fully vent my well deserved frustrations.

We May Have a Real Shot at This

Sorry that the updates here have been few and far between as of late, it's been busy for me the past couple of weeks but I hope to get back into the swing of things as this division race really heats up. In case you want to know what's been going on during the last two weeks, the Cubs have been up by a game and a half practically the entire time.

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to go to a free Cubs game. If you haven't done this before, I highly recommend it. A friend of a friend had a ticket that he couldn't use, so he gave it to my friend who couldn't use it, and my friend gave it to me. It was the best seats and I didn't have anyone else I knew going, but none of that matters when you can be at a Cubs game for less than 20 bucks and watch them inch their way towards a division title. The rundown of what I spent for the game:

• Ticket for Aisle 224, Row 19, Seat 10: Free
• Upgrading to Row 13, Seat 1: Free
• Gas for the 75 mile round trip to where I parked: $9
• Parking: Free
  
• Riding the L to the stadium and back: $4
• Refilling my bottle of water at the drinking fountain by the bathrooms: Free
• Slice of pizza from Bacci's Pizzeria after the game: $4.39
• Total: $17.39

I'd say paying that much is well worth seeing a thrilling Cubs win.

By the way, I highly recommend Bacci's Pizza. You get a slice of thin crust pizza the size of Montana and a pop for $4.39 after tax, and it's about 20 feet from the L stop. As you're leaving the stadium, you will see a cute college girl in a tank top trying to get you to go to a bar that has $3 jello shots. Right next to that bar is Bacci's. It's on the left, you can't miss it. Tell them I sent you.

All that being said though, I wish I had gone to today's game instead. I thought we didn't have a chance of winning, I was actually dozing off when Lee came through with the big homer. Not a great time to fall asleep. I just hope the team can get some kind of momentum going, because I'm not really comfortable with a 1.5 game lead on the Brewers. Let's get it to a 4 or a 5 game lead and maybe I'll be able to breathe again.

Question for the Masses

Looking back at our recent games played, apparently the Cubs have taken 2 out of 3 against their last two opponents. That is actually pretty good, considering if they could keep it up all year they would be the proud owners of a .666 win percentage. But for some reason my gut seems to tell me that the team has been rather lackluster as of late, even knowing that they still lead the Central. Does anyone else feel this way, that we've been playing badly and still winning? I'm sure Soriano's return will straighten things out but this still worries me.

And from a blog that I had not read before yesterday and that puts a lot more thought into these matters than I do, Jacque Jones may have saved the Cubs season. And the collective cynics of the world say: huh?

Welcome Craig

Cubs picked up Craig Monroe from the Tigers today. Read more here.

The man is back.

With a perfect suicide squeeze on a 3-1 count in the 10th inning, Mr. Blanco let Cubs Nation know that he is back and better than ever.

To quote the Giants color announcer, "He got the job done."

That's how Henry rolls, ladies and gentleman. That's how this team rolls.

CUBS WIN.

Where in the World is Henry Blanco?

Despite an injury to world-class backup catcher Henry B., the Cubs have somehow managed to get themselves into first place. It looks like Blanco is rehabbing in AAA and could be back very soon though, giving this team a much needed boost coming into the final months of the season. Koyie Hill, your days are numbered.

Go Cubs.