It's been 100 years since the Chicago Cubs last hoisted a World Series trophy in the air.

Now that I think about it, did trophies even exist in 1908?

That really isn't the issue at hand, however. The point is, seventy games into the 2008 baseball season; the Chicago Cubs are the best team in baseball. Not only do the Cubs have the best record in the game (45-25), they have scored the most runs in baseball and allowed the fewest in the National League (fourth fewest in all of MLB).

Coming off of a divisional title in 2007, it isn't a huge surprise that the Cubs are having another good year. However, I don't think many, if any, would have predicted the Cubbies to be the best team in baseball. 

Coming into Spring Training, there were many questions about the Cubs' pitching staff. For starters (bad pun, I know), who would take the ball every five days in the rotation? Three of the five spots were filled with Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly, and Rich Hill. The other two spots were up for grabs though, and ultimately won by former closer Ryan Dempster and Jason Marquis. 

Rich Hill, who was counted on to win 15 games and pitch around 200 innings, was a complete disaster and is currently trying to throw strikes in Iowa. 

The person that has saved the rotation is Ryan Dempster. He has been a dominant starter at home (8-0), and he is vying for a spot on the All-Star team.

He won't be the only pitcher on the National League team from the Cubs. Carlos Zambrano has been electric all year, and will likely be joined by Carlos Marmol, the most dominant middle-reliever in all of baseball. 

The other question mark in Spring Training was who would be the closer? Kerry Wood beat out Carlos Marmol and Bob Howry, and while he's had a few hiccups, he has been dominant as well.

There weren't many questions about the Cubs' offense at the start of the year.  The only issue was their starting center fielder, or lack thereof. The Felix Pie experiment failed again, and the Cubs were lucky the Blue Jays released Reed Johnson at the end of Spring Training. Johnson took over for Pie on a full-time basis in April, and he hasn't looked back. 

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?