August 26, 2019: The Final 32

I’m glad I was wrong… I thought the Cubs were already 2.5 games out, and now, with another Cardinals win on the Cubs off day, would be 3 games out.  But NOW they’re 2.5 games out; I don’t know why, but that half game makes a big difference in my head.  The Cubs needed an off day after that ass kicking they took in Wrigley this past weekend.  It’s tough to stay positive during this up and down season.  The way I do it, is I always look forward to the next “up”… I always believe there WILL be a next good stretch of baseball.  Well, here we sit… NOT in 1st place… slowly losing control of our own destiny of winning the division… feeling really nervous heading into New York to play the Mets… now finding myself looking at the wild card standings….  You know what cures this?  A win.

Don’t really have good memories of the Mets.  I wasn’t around in 1969, but I was very much alive in 2015, the year before the curse was ended, when the Mets kicked us around in a sweep in the NLCS.  Sure, since then we did do it, and the Mets fell off the face of the damn earth, but still.  You play these same teams and feelings come rushing back.  I wonder if the Nationals get an extra boost playing us, remembering how we ended their season in 2017… wanting to pay us back with every chance they get… playing their best baseball of the season right now… being able to do so, has to feel good.  They’re only 5.5 games behind the Braves… but they are 5.5 games clear of having 1 of the 2 wild card positions.  Yeah, like I said, I looked at the wild card.  Sure, the Cubs are in the 2nd wild card spot, but there are legitimately 5 other teams with a shot, including these Mets, who sit only 2 games behind the Cubs at this point in the season.  Is that crazy or what?  I’m trying not to let bad feelings of the past creep in here…

Remember 2004?  Well, it was the year after the Bartman game… the wound was still very fresh, but the Cubs were still very good.  Surely they would be right back in the playoffs the following year and finish what they had started.  The collapse down the stretch that year stuck with me; it all started in New York on September 25th.  The Cubs ended up losing that game, and 7 of the last 9, including 5 out of 7 at home, as they ended up finishing 3 games behind the NL wild card team the Houston Astros.  That year on top of what had just happened the year before, put us in a tailspin.  We were 4 games under 500 in 2005; 30 games under in 2006.  Then Sweet Lou arrived and helped guide us to 2 consecutive playoff appearances, where we didn’t win 1 game.  That was it until 2015…

It’s scary to think about the Cubs not making the playoffs this year.  I know, we’ve been spoiled with this Golden Era of Cubs baseball; a historic 4 playoff appearances in a row with of course the 1 World Series title.  This definitely contributes to this scary feeling.  Another one though is the feel of underachievement.  This team is too good to let a chance pass them by.  We’ve seen bad Cub teams… many of them; this is NOT one of them.  The inconsistent, underachieving performance really sucks, which leads to the next fear.  IF the Cubs do not do it this year, there will be major changes; we can all take guesses what those will be.  I guess if they don’t make the playoffs, major changes SHOULD happen, and that would be a good thing… still… you just feel like this team should be able to cash in again during this window; hopefully they still will.

The final 32 games lie ahead.  17 games on the road; 15 games at home.  7 more games vs Milwaukee; 7 more games vs St. Louis.  So yeah, we’re not in 1st place, but technically, we still do control our own destiny.  All the ups and downs don’t matter today.  All that matters is what happens from here on out.  Are you ready to see how this final regular season chapter will be written?  I am.  Go Cubs!