Cubs Choke... Again

Although I don't follow baseball regularly during the regular season, once the postseason begins I start paying attention. Besides my fantasy baseball team, I don't know many players, nor do I know the stats of them or their teams. However, once the chase for the wild card becomes important, or once the battle in each division becomes more intense, then I do start to follow the sport. I am not a baseball addict like some of my friends, but I watch Sportscenter enough that I know what happens each day.

The best part of the postseason is watching the teams that are supposed to be amazing fail, and the teams that shouldn't be there do much better than expected. This year was the same as last for the Chicago Cubs. They won the division both years, although they did much better this year. They had the best record in the NL, and were only behind the Los Angeles Angels in the whole MLB. And the end result was the same, being SWEPT in the first round. Last Year to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and this year to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Time, and time again, misery has come to the fans of Chicago, and now people have even given up on them. Some of my friends (Who loved the Cubs until 2005) can't even imagine the Cubs winning in the postseason. When everyone else at school thought they were going to win the World Series, he rejected them and told them that the fate of the Cubs would be the same as the previous year. Every ignored his comments, just calling him a party-pooper, and then it ended up that he was right.

The Cubs just cannot manage to win in October. It should just become a fact. They have lost 9 (NINE!) postseason games in a row, dating back to October of 2003. Their last win came against the Florida Marlins, who then went on to win the World Series that year. And the infamous Bartman Ball can't be the whole reason for their loss. Mark Prior then walked Luis Castillo (Who hit the foul ball that Bartman caught), and on a wild ball 4 he allowed Ivan Rodriguez to get to 3rd base. Then 2 batters later, Alex Gonzalez botched a ball that could have led to a double-play that could have ended the inning, but instead the bases were loaded with one out. The Marlins then went on to win that game, and the following, sending them to the World Series.