Things are looking good. Last night we beat the Mets, and thus assured home field advantage through the National League post-season. Jason Marquis, a pitcher on a series of post-season contenders who has been left off the roster for a number of years now, has finally earned himself a post-season roster spot. Marquis generally starts the season strong, then fades markedly in the second half. This year it’s been the opposite. He’s pitching well now, and even hit a grand slam (!) last night. If that’s not making a bid for a post-season spot, I’m not sure what would be. All in all, he’s been an extremely good number five pitcher this year, as you’d expect from the National League’s best team.
With Marquis and Ted Lilly (to think he’s our number four pitcher…) acting as long relief in the pen, we are well guarded in case one of our big three, Dempster, Hardin or Zambrano (really our number three pitcher), blows up early in one game or other. In fact, we’ve so many quality pitchers that manager Lou Pinella’s biggest job is going to be figuring out who to exclude from the roster. Word is that he’s going with 11 pitchers instead of our normal 12 in order to strengthen the bench. That’s a luxury allowed by the way Lilly and Marquis have been pitching all year.
I really like this team. 2003’s team was great, but relied heavily on superstars like Sammy Sosa, who didn’t always show up. This team has no superstars–although it’s a lot better when Soriano is in one of his insane offensive hot streaks–and hence isn’t held hostage by the performance of one or two players. Our balance, as indicated by our lack of MVP candidates, is our greatest strength. And heaven knows Pinella isn’t likely to choke the way Dusty Baker did should some bump in the road appear.
Many fans are waiting for the other shoe to drop, and for the disasters of 1984 and 2003 to be repeated. I’m not so worried. We could lose, of course, but I’m satisfied going in that we’ve got the League’s best team and that a World Series appearance is ours to lose. I really think this is the best Cubs team I’ve seen.
And man, if we end up playing the White Sox in the World Series, that will be the biggest sports story ever…
