Cubs Fans

Good luck to them

having Jason Marquis and his post ASG 5.50+ ERA as your 3rd starter in the playoffs is scary proposition.

Call up PJ Walters!

by Hardcore Legend on Sep 29, 2007 12:21 AM EDT reply actions

And Congratulations to them

they went out and bought it. 100 years is a long time to not win a ring, so I don't begrudge them for backing up a Brinks truck and buying a title in a terrible division.

Call up PJ Walters!

by Hardcore Legend on Sep 29, 2007 12:22 AM EDT up reply actions

Marquis will be #4

Their 1-2-3 is pretty good in Zambrano, Lilly, and Hill. Like it or not, the Cubs will be pretty tough in the playoffs.

by chuckb on Sep 29, 2007 12:35 AM EDT up reply actions

They just got swept by the Marlins

they are the worst playoff team in the dance this year.

They have tons of talent on that team, but what the Cardinals did last year should be looked at as the exception, not the norm.

Call up PJ Walters!

by Hardcore Legend on Sep 29, 2007 12:55 AM EDT up reply actions

I unfortunately find myself more in agreement with HoustonCardinal. I'm not certain that the Cubs are the worst team in the NL playoffs (although that's not to say that they are anywhere near the best either).

As I posted in my diary last week, my gut told me that they might go a long way in the playoffs. Despite their tripping over the Marlins (any team can get swept in any 3-game series against any team on any day), I still don't see anything that changes my feeling of dread.

Here's hoping my gut's a liar.

"Requiescat In Pace - 2007 Zombie Cardinals"

by AustinBOB on Sep 29, 2007 1:51 AM EDT up reply actions

The Cubs are probably the 2nd best

Behind San Diego. They will be tough to beat in a 7 game set.

500- What it takes enough to win at Rummy, at Indy and in the NL Central.

by Zubin on Sep 29, 2007 8:02 AM EDT up reply actions

San Diego

I don't know about the Padres...Yeah, Peavy is a monster and Maddux makes a decent duo, but Young has been up and down the second half w/ his back. The guy who has been their best hitter, Bradley...well, you know. I just don't know if they have the bats to do it. Peavy can't pitch every game, so they have to get some runs at some point.

But, then again, no one in the NL is all that imposing. So, shoot...I guess they probably are the #1 team...I smell a total crapshoot in the NL this year.

by redbirdnation8206 on Sep 29, 2007 3:57 PM EDT up reply actions

cuck the flubs

what? am i really the first one to say this?

i cant be the only one can i?

I'm going to go try to find a puppy and kick it. - Brad Thompson And That's A Winner!

by gdm426 on Sep 29, 2007 12:55 AM EDT reply actions

IF the Cubs were to make the WS

they better hope the Yankees or Boston don't.

With the AL having home field advantage and as good of hitting teams as the Yankees & Red Sox are I can just forsee a slaughter for the Cubbies.

Think the Yankees can light up Lilly & Marquis?
Can you imagine A-Rod & Crew hitting at Wrigley.
The Yankees have been a team in which lately scoring less than 5 runs in a game is a rariety.

But I think if the Phillies get in the Cubs will have their hands full with them as well. If those two team meet in the NLCS it could be slugfest city.

by KYCards on Sep 29, 2007 1:35 AM EDT reply actions

mark it down

laugh now and here me latah...the cubs will win the world series. i told me wife that out of spring training, just a gut feeling i've had. i hope not, i live in iowa and surrounded by their fans and it can be fun at times, brutal others.

Future Redbirds

by erik on Sep 29, 2007 1:50 AM EDT reply actions

For the Cubs to win the WS

Big Z, Lilly, Hill & Betty will have to be almost completely lights out for at least a 2 week stretch. And yeah they have a decent rotation but they are hardly "lights out". Even Big Z can fall apart quickly if he gets rattled.

Yeah I could see them maybe winning the NL if Soriano/Lee/Ramirez get hot and Big Z & Lilly pitches a few gems, but like I posted above I don't think they can beat a power house team like the Yankees or Red Sox.

I think their best chance would be against the Angels or maybe the Indians (where they would avoid the HUGE East Coast media hype and hoopla)

But I must say even though our boys won't be involved this year, I am looking forward to the playoffs, it should be fun, and a lot less stressfull that last year :)

by KYCards on Sep 29, 2007 2:02 AM EDT up reply actions

The Angels and Indians

are pretty damn good teams. Cleveland played in the toughest division in baseball and has nearly the best record in baseball. The Red Sox and Yankees have been able to pick on the likes of Baltimore and Tampa Bay, and they've both had their hands full with the Tribe and the Halos.

No matter which AL team gets to the playoffs, it's gonna be an uphill battle for the NL, whoever makes it through. Too bad for the Rockies tonight... I've been rooting for them since St. Louis got eliminated. I figured a red-hot wildcard team is the NL's only hope this year.

by lawman3842 on Sep 29, 2007 2:07 AM EDT up reply actions

yeah yeah

who thought the cards would win...we were far and away the worst team on paper. haven't you been listening to dane cook? anything can happen. :) just saying it's my gut feeling.

Future Redbirds

by erik on Sep 29, 2007 10:34 AM EDT up reply actions

I think you hit it

on the head with the best analysis so far. Everybody in the playoffs has a "big hoss" to ride. Philadelphia (Hamiel, Arizona (Webb), San Deigo (Peavy) and Chigago (Zambrano). But you are right, Zambrano is easy to rattle and fall apart when he is up against another tough pitcher. San Diego seems to always come up with quiet bats in a playoff and find some way to loose. Arizona, always rises up and plays tough it seems, and the Phillies can get hot a hit with anybody. If they can get their bullpen to hold up they are the team to beat, but what do I know, I'm never right.

by ridgesee on Sep 29, 2007 12:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Cubs fans

Summary from my experience at the doubleheader earlier this month with the small bears: reinforcement of my belief that there is something wrong with fans of the Cubs. Case in point - I was sitting in the upper deck at the day game and had a pretty uneventful game until the 6th inning when Paris and Nicole (they actually looked like them) sat down in front of me. Nicole was wearing the STL red, and Paris is decked out in the cubbie blue. This would not have been significant had Paris just sat and watched the game. She, however, decides she must loudly voice her excitement for every cub player as they come to bat. Only problem is, she doesn't know their names and must watch the scoreboard before she can cheer for them; pronouncing them very badly - "Go Dee Rooosa!" This, of course, becomes very distracting. Thankfully, they were not in my direct view of the field.
Later on, as the cubs had the lead going into the bottom of the ninth, Dumpster comes in to pitch. Behind me, two cubs fans get into an argument about their closer(?); almost coming to blows. Cubs win, and the discord fizzles out with the crowd leaving.
Later that evening, I'm at Pujols 5, sitting at the bar enjoying a beverage with my wife, watching the second game. Springer strikes out Ramirez to end the inning, and Ramirez starts talking to Springer for some reason, trying to start something. My wife asks me what happened, and I say to her it's just one of the Cubs punks pouting. Low and behold, sitting on the other side of me is a Cubs fan. He starts off stating the Cards look pretty weak this year, and he is correct. I can't resist responding with the fact that Cubs have been looking pretty weak for almost 100 years. He takes a little offense at that, and asks why I'm a Cards fan. I inform him that I am a life long fan going back to one of my earliest memories of sitting under a shade tree with my grandfather as he stirred a big kettle of homemade ketchup, listening to the Cardinals game on the radio. He tells me that his grandfather, too, was a Cards fan, and that one of his most cherished possessions is Cardinals Shirt he has from his grandfather. So, I ask, how did he become a Cubs fan? He begins by telling me he from Indiana, and loves the Louisville Cardinals college teams (he apparently has a relative attending there) and then tells me about how he remembers when the Cardinals had their AAA affiliate in Louisville. This conversation gets interupted by a Cardinals win. He congratulates me. Again, I ask how he became a Cubs fan. He changes the subject to why he is in town (friend's wedding) and how fans in St. Louis are so friendly. I inquire one more time about the foundation of his Cubbiness and he starts to get defensive, again talking about how the Cubs have dominated the Cardinals this year. At this point, the wife is tired and ready to leave, so, we settle up and start to leave. The Cubs fan, inexplicably gets up and gives me one of those handshake/half hugs and says it was nice to talk to me. I am obviously not expecting that, and start for the door before things have an opportunity to get more weird. As we make our way to the door, a Cards fan asks why I hugged a Cubs fan and I explained that I was not hugging; I got hugged. Needless to say, I took a long shower that evening.

I have never understood why anyone would subject themselves to the frustration that is the Chicago Cubs, and, now I have even more reason why I never will.

by cards n catfish on Sep 29, 2007 5:22 AM EDT reply actions

this is really a petty diary

by lboros on Sep 29, 2007 9:08 AM EDT reply actions

Congrats to the Cubs and their fans;

they earned it.

Well, let's go to the old mill anyway -- get some cider!

by Alxfritz on Sep 29, 2007 10:16 AM EDT reply actions

Yes, congrats

...although one might say they bought it rather than earned it. I doubt we'd be talking about this if they hadn't been able to buy, what, close to 400 million in contracts. Regardless, winning IS winning. Can't argue that. I also doubt many Bird fans would complain if DeWitt did the same. Ah well. When their little blue hearts are broken again, they will have earned that too ;-)

by rockin redbird on Sep 29, 2007 5:00 PM EDT up reply actions

You know

the Cards aren't exactly cheap. Aren't we buying championships, especially compared to teams who spend less?

The bottom lines is that the games still have to be played. Spending a lot might you in contention, but it won't guarantee anything. Just ask the Yankees. Teams that spend less than them have been winning the World Series.

by spants on Sep 29, 2007 6:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Cubs will be tough

I think it depends on how the East shakes out.

To do a quick "power rankings" of which teams I think would have the best shot in the NL playoffs, here's how I see it:

Chicago, Philly, Arizona, San Diego, Colorado, New York

San Diego - The loss of a couple good outfielders in Bradley and Cameron hurts, but they've still got Peavy, Young and Maddux.
Philadelphia - I see them as the 2nd toughest simply because of how they're coming into the post-season. The bats are all alive, and with 3 guys who will likely finish top 10 in MVP voting in their lineup (Rollins, Utley, Howard), they've got the bats. The question is whether the bats can stay hot enough to pound playoff-calibre pitching.
Chicago - As much as I hate saying it, they're a scary team in the playoffs for the exact 3 reasons stated by other posters here. Zambrano, Lilly and Hill. Outside San Diego, there's no better pitching staff in the NL race than in Chicago. If they draw Philly in the first round (unlikely - it would have to entail both Philly and New York making the playoffs), then it could be an interesting series of very good bats against very good pitching in two hitter friendly parks.
Arizona - Somehow they're the winningest team in the NL despite having a negative run differential. They can't throw Brandon Webb more than 3 times in a series and I'm not buying that their other pitchers and their batters are going to be to the same level against playoff-calibre teams in a 5 or 7-game series. This is the Cubs likely 1st round matchup, and sadly, I can see them beating Arizona pretty handily.
Colorado - 9-1 coming down the stretch, but I don't see them making the playoffs since they're on the verge of elimination. Also, while their pitching has been decent, I still don't see it being good enough to hold down teams like Philly enough for Colorado to win.
New York - They've limped right out of the playoffs with 5 straight losses. 1 game down on the surging Phillies, I don't see them turning it around and taking back the division in 162 games. Their best shot is to go down to one game against Philly for the division. Bad news(maybe?) for the Mets though: The tiebreak would be in Philly due to the coin flips. Of course, the flip side of this is that the Mets have actually been a better road team than home team this year.

Given that the Cubs will likely draw Arizona in the first round (1 vs. 3, 2 vs. 4 is likely due to the West teams being unable to play each other in the first round), I think there's a pretty good chance we'll be seeing the Cubbies play in the NLCS(where my prediction would be they'd probably lose there to whoever wins between the likely SD/Philly matchup).

by mtalken on Sep 29, 2007 11:43 AM EDT reply actions

Good order...

I think that's pretty fair estimate of each team, though I'm not as down on Arizona as you are. The four teams are going to have their weaknesses, which are pretty self evident. As the Cards demonstrated last year, all it takes is to get hot at the right time and win eleven games.

Any one of the above teams has the ability to do that. I tend to like San Diego a little bit better than the rest because of their bullpen, which is lights out. If they can push across two or three runs a game, they should be formidable.

Good luck to fans of all the teams, including the Cubs.

by Brock20 on Sep 29, 2007 12:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Congrats to the Cubs

They have earned it. They are clearly the best of the NL central, and with injuries to the Padres should be favored in any seven game sets. Honestly, I am unsure if I'll root for them, but I wish them no ill.

500- What it takes enough to win at Rummy, at Indy and in the NL Central.

by Zubin on Sep 29, 2007 12:29 PM EDT reply actions

cubs fans think they are the shit...

i was just at the university of illinois football game and we upset penn state and everyone was going crazy and was jovial and as we were filing out illinois chants eminated threw the crowds and then everyone started doing a "hey chicago what do ya say? the cubs are gonna win today" over and over it was brutal.

by bigmcq16 on Sep 29, 2007 4:04 PM EDT reply actions

The Cubbies

As much as I hate to say it, the Cubs have as good a chance as anyone this year of taking the whole thing down. Zambrano is crazy, true, but he's also as talented as any pitcher on the planet not named Jake or Johan. He's capable of taking the Phillies, Yankees, or Red Sox and completely dominating them. Hill and Lilly aren't world beaters, but they're pretty solid, and at least as good as Weaver and Suppan were. The Lee/ARam combo in the middle is pretty formidable, and while I think Soriano is a bit overrated he is a major HR threat. Take all that and combine it with the fact that the NL is completely wide open, and that the WS is all about who plays better, not who IS better...

Don't get me wrong, I'll be rooting against them the whole way, but this is probably their shot to win and end the drought.

Oh, and yes, their fans are an odd bunch.

by redbirdnation8206 on Sep 29, 2007 4:07 PM EDT reply actions

cubs fans

the reason for a lot of cardinals fans hatred/dislike/frustration with cubs fans is based on the fact that cubs fans are becoming really obnoxious. they are like red sox jr. on a scale of obnoxiousness. they have a serious inferiority complex and it shows. here are just a few examples. game 2 of the doubleheader this month and im waiting in line to get in the park and as soon as they open the gate about 4 cubs fans just rush the gate and get in front of everyone, when someone yells to wait in line one guy screams "we dont wait in lines" real classy. same game the girl sitting next to me starts laying into me for being a cardinal fan calling us "posuers(sp?) and fair weather fans" even her boyfriend told her to shut up. lastly i was at wrigley in april, the preston wilson game, and had the awesome experience of having peanuts thrown at me the whole game by the two 35-45 year old women 5 rows behind me. in all of these situations i was never rude, foul-mouthed, or obnoxious to bring this upon myself. i am a season ticket holder and have not missed a cards cubs game in years and the cubs fans behavior is getting worse and worse, its like they have short-mans syndrome. so i think the reason for cardinals fans hatred towards cubs fan is based pretty much in self-defense. by the way im in my mid-20's so im not an older person just complaing about kids being rude and obnoxious, no offense to older people. sorry to be so long winded but thats the way i feel and if that makes me petty then oh well.

baseball is like church. many attend but few understand....wes westrum, catcher

by El Capitan on Sep 29, 2007 4:40 PM EDT reply actions

My Two Cents

Last October, I was watching game 7 of the NLCS at a bar that was 90% Cub fans—all rooting fanatically for the Mets. After Wagonmaker froze Beltran, there was a split second of pained silence (aside from my celebration) before a chant went up: Lets Go Tigers! clap clap clapclapclap

I'd never be so lame as to root for whatever team is playing the Cubs, but as a fan of the Cards, I find it very hard to root for them to win—not for any hatred-fueled rivalry, but for what it would mean going forward.

The Cubs have a small window to win the World Series before all these backloaded contracts they recently signed turn into pumpkins. If they can ride these new horses to a world series, the faithful in the friendly confines would be grateful enough to give Cub management a free pass for whatever they want to do, and if they're wise, they'd rid themselves of those contracts to some dumb GM who pays more attention to the playoffs than to the likely future performance of players with large contracts and restock their farm system with a supply of top prospects to tap into for years to come.

This would be a very bad thing for the Cardinals, since it would give a division rival in a big market huge payroll flexibility and a stream of talent coming up for years to come just when they were on the brink of being handcuffed through the first half-decade of the second century of their World Series drought.

The Cubs are very hot right now and have a good front three in their rotation, but it's hard to believe that the worst division in baseball could produce two WS champions in consecutive years.

I'm not rooting against 'em, but most definitely not rooting for 'em either.

by liam on Sep 30, 2007 3:25 PM EDT reply actions

I'm

indifferent. If they win, they win. We weren't in it anyway.

I would prefer to see a WS match-up of Indians v. Rockies or Phillies.

by spants on Sep 30, 2007 5:08 PM EDT reply actions

60\40 cubs

I live in a lil tri village area{all 3 towns 6 miles apart} 1500 people total. There are 3 little bars in the 3 towns, and the one that i frequent for steak nite, i almost dread the idea of a cubscards game. The cubs fans get going the first inning and don't stop till the game is over. If they win dear god, most ppl know i am a cards fan. Even the seasons the are ten games out or more the just keep on raggin on you till u leave. You can't even try to talk baseball with them, all the time Big Z bla bla bla, d lee bla bla bla, sandberg bla bla bla.