"School"—as in the brief recess that MLB affords teams around this time every year is almost over. For eight Cubs players and their manager, it never really started.
Well, most of the team was able to relax over the All-Star break, and even the players in New York seemingly had a good time. But now the real work starts. It's called the second half of the 2008 baseball season. And it's filled with great expectations.
While the return of Alfonso Soriano, scheduled for July 24th, should be a boon to the Cubs offense, the second half schedule is no cake walk.
Fortunately, the Cubs bolstered the pitching staff with the acquisition of Harden and Gaudin, because free days are few and far between.
In between Friday, when the Cubs travel to Houston, and September 28th in Milwaukee, the Cubs have only six days off. That's 67 games in 73 days for those of you who are mathematically challenged.
Thirty five of those games are on the road, where the Cubs are only 20-26. Two particularly brutal stretches remain: The three consecutive road series in early September against Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Houston and ending the season, they play their last seven on the road against the suddenly resurgent Mets and division rival Milwaukee.
The Mets should be in the playoff hunt and will be out to avoid the same collapse as last year. And the Brewers may be fighting for their playoff lives as well. That's a tough way to end the season.
Of the 21 series remaining on the schedule, 12 are against teams with winning records. In fact, the combined winning percentage of the Cubs second half opponents is considerably tougher than what division rivals Cards or Brewers have to face.
Here's hoping that Wood's blisters are a thing of the past.
Adding to the difficulty is that the majority of the road games are at night, while the majority of the home games are during the day. Body clocks be damned.
All with the weight of a hundred years of failure on their shoulders. And the expectation that nothing short of a World Series appearance will suffice.
As for us Cub fans? Well, we ain't got no class. And we got no principles. And we got no innocence. Come to think of it, we can't even think of a word that rhymes. But we'll be there rooting our boys on. Go Cubs Go! I can hear Alice singing that one now...
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2 months ago
Although my interest in hearing Alice Cooper sing "Go Cubs Go!" is about as high as my desire to have a conversation with Hawk Harrelson, I WILL be interested in following this great Central race (which I actually just wrote about), specifically the Cubbies.
Personally, I'll be surprised if they have less than 90 wins going into that final road trip.
2 months ago
Bob, I really like your unbiased article here! Good work.
2 months ago
Bob good job pointing out that last two series of the season....its gonna be tough and they could end up deciding the division!
2 months ago
Nice article! I really hope the Cubs can pull out some key road victories starting tonight in this second half. They will definitely need to pull it together on the road in order to win this division.
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