Cubs: The Curse of Bad Baseball
Yo, Cardinals fans: do you feel sorry for the Cubs?
Even just a little?
OK, dumb question …
Let the new century of futility begin. The Cubs’ shocking departure in the first round of the NL playoffs was just more of the same.
Figures that an ex-Cardinals player and manager, Joe Torre, would take the Cubs down this time. Torre’s Los Angeles Dodgers made it look easy, sweeping the dreadful Cubs in three games.
The North Siders haven’t won a World Series since 1908, and I have to admit that I thought this year’s collection of high-priced talent would change the course of history.
I’ve never fully bought into this idea that the Cubs are cursed. I get tired of hearing about Bartman, the Billy Goat, the Black Cat and all of the other ”Greatest Hits” from the Cubs’ sad October playlist. It gets old. And it seems foolish. And the Cubs for some stupid reason enjoy perpetuating this “curse” craziness. For instance, why did the Cubs bring in a Greek Orthodox priest to sprinkle holy water in their dugout before Game 1? It was a silly, senseless, attention-drawing stunt. Why put that stuff into the players’ heads and make the Cubs start thinking of all the past postseason failures?
The 2008 Cubs were put together with a lot of money, with more than $500 million in new player contracts over the last two-plus seasons. The 2008 Cubs seemed to be a good investment; they led the NL in runs scored this season, and they had strong starting pitching, and a fearsome closer, and they played sound baseball in the field, and on the bases.
But it all fell apart in three games to the Dodgers.
Just as it did last season in a three-game sweep by Arizona that sent the Cubs home after the first round in 2007.
In going 0-6 in the last two seasons, the Cubs scored only 12 runs and batted .218. They went 7 for 51 with runners in scoring position in the six losses. Key performers such as Alfonso Soriano (3 for 28) and Aramis Ramirez (2 for 32) were MIA. And even though Derrek Lee stroked some hits, he failed to drive in a run in the six losses.
After the Cubs were thrashed by the Dodgers in Game 2, Cubs manager Lou Piniella was overheard challenging a few of his players, including Soriano and Ramirez. Piniella used the word “cojones” in the conversation.
Apparently the cojones — and the bats — didn’t make the trip to Game 3 in LA …
It’s obvious that the postseason pressure got to the Cubs — again. During the regular season, they had the best onbase percentage in the NL, but hacked at everything the Dodgers lobbed at them in the three games, and struck out 24 times. They played atrocious defense. And starting pitchers Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden wavered when the Cubs needed a lights-out performance from them.
The 2008 Cubs became the ninth team in the last 14 seasons to lead their league in wins, only to get eliminated in the first round.
It makes me appreciate Tony La Russa even more. The Cardinals manager has had his problems in the Championship Series and the World Series, but he’s done a masterful job of getting his Cardinals through the first round. La Russa’s NLDS record is an astoundingly good 20-5. He lost only one NLDS, in 2001 to the Arizona Diamondbacks that had Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson making four of the five starts. And in that one, the Cardinals weren’t eliminated until the bottom of the ninth inning of the fifth and decisive game.
I thought Piniella would make a difference; he seemed tough enough to push the Cubs through all this “curse” nonsense, once and for all.
But Lou is building his own history of stunning postseason failures.
True, his 1990 Cincinnati Reds defeated La Russa’s mighty Oakland A’s in a four-game World Series sweep. But since that triumph, Piniella’s postseason record is 15-25.
Not only is Piniella 0-6 as the Cubs’ manager in the posteason, but he’s lost eight straight postseason games and 10 of his last 11.
Piniella’s 2001 Seattle Mariners won 116 games in the regular season, only to get ejected in five games by the Yankees in the ‘01 ALCS. And during Piniella’s eight-game postseason losing streak, his teams have scored only 16 runs.
What the heck is going on here?
How do you win 97 games and send eight players to the All-Star Game, as the Cubs did this season, only to show up for the postseason and look so lifeless?
The Cubs franchise is 18-50 in the postseason since winning that World Series in 1908.
So despite spending about a half-billion dollars to try and buy a pennant and a World Series title, the Cubs have won exactly the same amount of postseason games as the Cardinals over the last two seasons:
ZERO.
“The organization tried the Greek priest,” Piniella told reporters before Game 3. “I don’t know what the hell else to do.’’
How about an exorcism?
Thanks for reading…
-B
I love it, absolutely love it.
The Cubs suck.
@ dp1616:
Yeah, those two World Series appearances in the last four years are really embarrassing. LaRussa’s “antics” are clearly not working.
You’re an idiot. Try being a Royals fan.
OR A CUBS FAN!
HA HA! The Cubs suck!
So much for the NL Central…….
I love it! The stupid flipping of the glove, the hop, Zambrano’s attitude and Jimmy’s mouth. I said all season they hadn’t won anything yet, and they won’t! Ha!!! Jimmy gonna come crawling back to us now (where he has a ring) and say he’s sorry for cheating on us with the neighbor….
Agreed, Bernie, the Cubs are not cursed. As you wrote, they have spent a little over 500 million in player contracts, and sent eight players to the allstar game, there is no excuse for not making it out of the playoff’s first round.
The Cubs just played bad baseball. They weren’t able to advance runners, played poor defense, and they got nothing from Zambrano and Harden, two pitchers who seemed an automatic to come through. To win in the playoffs you have stay patient and stay cool, calm and collected. The Cubs didn’t stay disciplined at the plate. In game 2 Zambrano clearly lost his poise, quit blaming it on a curse, the Cubs just played bad baseball.
the comment about the Brewers payroll, its only in the $80-90 mill range, the Cardinals actually outspend them by 10-20 mil. everything the brewers have is either homegrown (and not yet ready for the big bucks, when they’ll all most likely leave town) or was picked up on short term trades (Sabathia) or not-too-big free agent deals (Suppan)….they won’t be a very good team next year, especially pitching-wise….the cubs will be the only real competition for the Cardinals in the Central IF Mozeliak/DeWitt improve the team in a meaningful way.
Wow, for all the money the Cubs paid in salaries, you mean they only played three more games than the Cardinals?
What a pathetic bunch of losers!
I feel sorry for the Cubs’ fans, not the Cubs. Their fans really deserve better then the excuse they’ve been given for baseball there. The Cubs should have done better then that this year, but it’s like I thought when the Cards went on to win the series in 06. I’d rather sneak into the playoffs and then get hot (early prediction: Dodgers), then be the leader the entire season and tire out. In 04 and 05 the Cards won 100+ games each time, but then failed in the postseason cause they ran out of steam. 06, they barely get in but still have enough juice to make it a good series.
Cubs fans, I do feel for ya. You deserve better then the team you’ve got. Maybe next millenium…
I had some passing thoughts about the most recent Cubs …um…er…shall we say “letdown” and I thought I’d share them with the most knowledgeable sports crew around.
…Billy goats, black cats and Bartmans’ aside, the true cause of the Cubs home-field disadvantage became apparent when I tried to log on to the Chicago Tribune (team owners) website and it came up “Error on page”.
…Mark Cuban awoke from a four day drunk and was heard to say “I tried to buy the WHO…?”
…Thanks to the Cubs infield training video hosted by Bill Buckner, Game 2 had more balls popping out of leather than Chris Farley in a Harley Speedo.
…The film crew hired to follow the Cubs through the playoffs has been reassigned to a new project, “Once In A Hunnert Years.” This fantasy reenactment of the 2008 Cubs World Series victory will help fool most Cubs fans and keep the dreams alive. The sequel, “We Did It Again!” is anticipated to open for Christmas 3008.
…Leo Hildenbrand, the 104–year old fan that threw out the first pitch for the September 20th division clincher against the Cardinals, has been signed to replace Dempster in the starting rotation. When asked about the unusual move, Lou Piniella responded with, “Dempster walks seven…Leo doesn’t walk at all.”
…The Eagles top-selling compilation, “Hell Freezes Over,” has been rereleased as “Cubs Win Series.”
…Pfizer has released a new drug, “Chiagra,” to cure the Cubs “projectile dysfunction.” The disclaimer states that any Cub batter popping up for more than four hours should seek immediate medical attention.
…The Cubs were angered to hear the dugout manager was going to stop serving beer after the seventh inning of all clinching games. What would they wash their shots down with?
Bob Coleman
Cardinals Fan
I find it amusing that fans of a fourth place/rate team like the Cardinals would rip on the Cubs….after all the cards could not even win enough games to represent the division as a wild card team.
One reader thinks that the division is wide open for houston and st.louis…lol he must be drining too much of that cheap budwiser beer….
Intruudir, I take it you’re a Chicago resident who has nothing better to do than read the St. Louis media sources since you probably can’t even resolve a web page for one of the Chicago publications.
Do us all a favor, please: don’t start name-calling (a fourth place/rate team? Please!) unless you have something legitimate with which to back it up.
Do you honestly think that by winning the NL Central two years in a row, the Cubs have actually accomplished anything noteworthy? I can think of several years the Cardinals won the NL Central and didn’t finish the job (most recently 2004) but didn’t whine, moan, and make accusations and excuses like the Cub fans do so well as of late.
I’ve been a Cardinals season ticket holder for better than 20 years now, have seen some amazing things (’87, ‘04, ‘06 World series appearances to name three) in those years, and can remember how after the most recent loss in the 2004 World Series to Boston in game 4, two Red Sox fans sitting next to me accepted congratulations and couldn’t stop gushing about how amazing and gracious the St. Louis fans are, and how we should be proud of how we conduct ourselves even in defeat.
It’s a shame I can’t think anything remotely similar about Cub fans.
I’ve been rudely treated in Chicago many times when visiting Wrigley Field and only wish I could see the four guys who repeatedly cursed and yelled at me while at a Cardinals-Cubs game late in the 2006 season (which the Cubs won) so I could laugh at their idiotic antics.
I hate to say it, but the Cubs and their fans got exactly what they deserved… an early exit, and NOTHING to show for the season.
The Brewers probably wished the same on themselves with their ridiculous “shirt untuck” antics following victories this season!
Show some class, man-up, and play the game hard with integrity! Don’t bad-mouth other fans! Accept and embrace them! Friendly ribbing, sure, that’s great, but you don’t need to curse and be rude, especially in front of children.
Karma is a strange but very powerful thing.
100 years of Cubs futility proves it.