Today’s Special: C is for…

Here comes “Cafe Rabu’s Menu: Today’s Special” featuring the letter C.  Surprise!  Surprise!

C is for…  Chicago Cubs, the National League Central Champion 2008 (official site)

Last time the Cubs won a World Series was in 1908.  Yes, a hundred years ago.  The longest draught of any major professional sports team in North America.  But it can happen this year a century later, for real.

The Cubs just clinched the Major League Baseball’s Central division this past Saturday, and on Monday, they achieved the best record in the National League for 2008, after a 9-5 win over the New York Mets, securing home field advantage throughout the playoffs up until the World Series.

I lived in Chicagoland in 1998-2002, and it was during those years that I started watching Major League Baseball.  Being in Chicago, there were two teams to root for, but you were never to cheer for both teams.  Most of my coworkers at the time lived on the “north side”.  We went to the Cubs games quite a bit, and I became a Chicago Cubs fan.

On the Cubs team that I used to like, Kerry Wood was my favorite player. He was a rookie in 1998 and had struck out 20 Houston Astros in only his 5th big league game as a starter, tying a MLB record also held by the great Roger Clemens. This year, Wood has converted to a closer role, and to this date, he had 33 saves this season.

Not so much the lovable losers anymore, the 2008 Chicago Cubs has a very powerful line up.  Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Geovany Soto, Alfonzo Soriano, and Mark DeRosa all have 20 or more home runs this season thus far.  They also acquired Kousuke Fukudome from the Chunichi Dragons in Japan this past off-season, where he was a two-time batting champion.  So far, the Cubs ranked first in runs scored, about 50 more than the next closest team.

On the pitching side, the Cubs have ace starter Carlos Zambrano, closer-turned-starter Ryan Dempster, Rich Haden who was acquired from the Oakland A’s earlier this year, alongside Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis.  The pitching staff has allowed the 2nd least number of runs to their opponents, and has the 2nd lowest team pitching ERA.  Their run differential is +188, the highest in all of baseball.  And when you score more than your opponents can score on you, you win ballgames.

This year is also the first time in 100 years that the Cubs are going to the postseasons in back-to-back years.  Last year, though, they were swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the beginning round.  The last time the Cubs went to the postseasons in consecutive years was 1907-1908, with them winning in both years.  Maybe the stars will finally be aligned this year for the Cubs to win it all, finally.

The Major League Baseball postseason will start on Wednesday Oct 1, 2008.  The Division Series can be viewed on TBS, and the Championship Series on TBS and FOX.  The World Series will be broadcast on FOX.  Check out MLB.com for more information on teams and schedule.