Somewhere Under the Double Rainbow

The Chicago Cubs' baseball season thus far has the feel of a fairytale movie. The best record in Major League Baseball for the first time in 100 years.

They're continuing to steamroll the league, despite the injuries of two All Stars, Zambrano and Soriano, and one spark plug of a role player, Reed Johnson. Even as stud reliever Carlos Marmol has stumbled this past week, possibly from shouldering the bullpen for the season thus far, and the lack of confidence of the other relievers, except for Wood, who has been dominant.

It looks like the Cubs have all the pieces. They have greats rookies in Soto, who has been great with the pitching staff, and Fukodome, who has played great defense in the not-so-friendly confines of right field in Wrigley.

They have the veterans who have won in the postseason: Edmonds, Lee, Soriano, Marquis, and everybody from last year's team knows how to win late in the season (though not in October, hopefully this year they will have learned).

Still, even with all of the good fortune, the last century has shown that something could go wrong. What will the indelible image be this year.

There has been the Billy goat, black cat, "Bull" Durham, and jack@$$ Steve Bartman, which leads me to the question: what does the animal kingdom have against the Cubs?

It is hard not to wonder if 2003 wasn't the Cubs' year to win. Think about the following years. The Red Sox and White Sox, the second and third longest championship drought respectively, both ended their dry spells.

Maybe the story should have ended five years ago with the Cubs being the first to break through a 'curse.' Or maybe the streak ends at an even 100 years.

The Cubs are not the only team in Chicago. Many are unaware of that fact. Without a doubt, the Cubs' fanbase reaches much further than the north side of Chicago. The Cubs have been on WGN for 60 years, thus they reach a national audience, not just a regional audience.

The second team in the second city is also in first place. The White Sox have a well-balanced pitching staff. They have no real ace, but they are solid all around. They have power and can score with the help of a tongue lashing from their manager. Ozzie can win, and he has won.

They also have the proper ratio of young and energetic to old and experienced. The hurdle the Sox will face is the tougher American League, so if they do manage to make the playoffs, it will be challenging.

The Cubs however, have the much weaker National League to contend with. As the Cubs and the White Sox faced off for possibly the last time at Wrigley this year, a miraculous sign from the heavens appeared, just beyond the right-field wall. A double rainbow, perhaps an omen for both sides of Chicago.