Is there any point any more feeling sorry for the Chicago Cubs baseball team?
The Cubs are known as the lovable losers.
They are verifiably the most jinxed team in sports history. How else can a person explain the team’s latest collapse?
For non-baseball fans who don’t know the franchise history, the Cubs have been in existence since the National League was formed in 1876.
They have won 16 National League championships, including the first one.
Six of those pennants were won before the World Series era that started in 1903.
That means the Cubs have been in 10 World Series.
They have only won two, in 1907 and 1908.
‘ Their last World Series appearance was in 1945.
Since then, the franchise has had nothing but bad luck.
Oh, the team has won five division titles and a wild card berth in recent times.
But it’s been 63 years since they’ve won an NL pennant and 100 years since they won a World Series.
Curse of the goat
Some call it the curse of the goat, when a fan was ejected from Wrigley Field during the 1945 World Series for bringing his goat to the game.
The fan apparently put a curse on the team saying the Cubs will never win again.
This year, the Cubs won the 2008 National League Central championship and had the best record in the National League.
Then the playoffs started and they meekly lost three straight games to the NL West Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. These high priced professional players all of a sudden forgot how to play the game and started committing errors on routine plays.
Ace pitcher Carlos Zambrano was shown on television crying in the dugout in Game Two. The Cubs fans, the most loyal in the nation, had the look of utter despair. It was “Here We Go Again.:
The Cubs were the NL Central winners last year and were swept by West champion Arizona Diamondbacks.
They also won the 2003 division title, beat the Atlanta Braves in the first round, but blew a three games to one lead against the Florida Marlins in the National League Championship Series.
A fan, of all people, Steve Bartman, became the goat of the 2003 playoffs against the Floroda Marlins when he interfered with a foul ball that could have been caught by outfielder Moises Alou that would have gotten an out in a close game.
The Cubs also blew a big division lead in the 1969 pennant race and lost to the San Diego Padres in the 1983 NLCS after winning the first two games of the best of five series.
Cubs have manager and players who have wonCurrent Cubs manager Lou Pinella has three World Series rings; two as a player with the New York Yankees and one as a manager with the Cincinnati Reds.
First baseman Derek Lee was a member of the 2003 Florida Marlins team that won the World Series after beating the Cubs in the NLCS.
Centerfielder Jim Edmonds played for the 2006 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals.
Somehow, those guys should figure out what needs to be done to change the thinking of the club.
