The Cubs Chance of Glory Smashed In Division Series

Thursday, October 9th, 2008
by Jack H

In major league baseball, any team can do well throughout the one hundred sixty two games of the regular season, but anything can happen during the playoffs.  During the regular season, teams can have their ups and downs, but during the playoffs there is no room for error.  The expectations for a team and the pressure they can be under can really have an impact on their performance.

Take the Chicago Cubs who were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in three games.  The Cubs during the regular season won a whopping ninety-seven games and only lost sixty-four games giving them best record in the National League.  This was supposed to be the best team the Cubs have had in close to one hundred years.  The Cubs did not take advantage of the home field advantage they earned from their record.  At home they were fifty-five and twenty-six during the regular season, but in the playoffs they lost their first two home games.  All of the Cubs’ wins throughout the season were decided in two home games in the playoffs where they did not execute and lost their opportunity to move on.  The Cubs had multiple players who were remarkable during the year, but did not perform nearly as well in the match up against the Dodgers.  Kosuke Fukudome had a two hundred fifty-seven batting average with ten home runs and fifty-eight RBIs.  In the post season he was one for ten with four strikeouts and was eventually benched because of how awful he was playing.  Alfonso Soriano performed even worse with only one hit in fourteen at bats.  Soriano had seventy-five RBIs in the regular season, but failed to get any in the three divisional playoff games.

There was so much pressure on coach Lou Penilla and the entire team since Cub fans and even fans of other teams expected them to win the World Series, particularly because of how well the team had performed throughout the regular season and all the great players they had.  But, it all came down to a three out of five game playoff with the Dodgers where they folded.  The Dodgers were ready to play and caught the Cubs off guard in the series.  Cub fans I think really counted on their team to win the World Series because of how long it has been since they last won and wanted to let go of the so called “curse” on them.  But, no fan can be completely confident on their team winning, because in the MLB playoffs any team who makes the playoffs has a chance of winning.  The Dodgers did not have as good as a record as the Cubs and were not expected to win the series against them.  I think they had nothing to loose and were not under as much pressure as the Cubs were.  Major factors that lead to the defeat of the Cubs were the fans and media before and throughout the post season.  The Cubs probably had the thought of the curse and not winning a World Series in one hundred years.  That definitely was a distraction for them as they were trying to focus on what they had to do to win the series and move on.  They needed to take it one game at a time, but instead they had the mind set of winning the World Series for themselves and everyone who had high hopes of them winning.

Personally I think that teams who get the best record to acquire home field advantage throughout the post season rely to heavily on it.  For the Cubs, I believe that playing at Wrigley Field their first two games actually hurt them with the pressure from the fans and the thoughts of the history that has occurred in the past one hundred years.  But, besides the history the Cubs just did not perform well and the Dodgers made them pay.  It was sad to see how a team who was outstanding through a one hundred sixty two game season, be swept in a three out of five series to be eliminated completely from any chance of glory.  Cub fans can only grieve from the defeat and will have to see what happens next year.

Photo Credit: maura

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