The Baseball Finale

Big game tonight in case you haven’t heard!

I’m not much of a fan of either the Cleveland Indians or the Chicago Cubs, but I’ll be – despite my agreeing with Native American protests pointing to the team’s name and logo caricature as both being offensive and in need of change – pulling for the Cleveland guys. I like the idea of the World Series winner coming from the same division as my beloved Minnesota Twins for two straight years and I also like baseball tradition, and one of those baseball’s most enduring traditions is the Chicago Cubs being known as the “Lovable Losers”. So, with apologies to the great Steve Goodman and the millions of Chicagoans living on the city’s north side (and the defectors from the south side), here’s hoping the Cubs stay that way.

But it’s going to be tough. I’m a big believer that good pitching beats good hitting and wins baseball games, and as good as the Cleveland pitching staff is, the Cubs staff is better. But the way baseball is played today I’m not sure that the bullpen isn’t more important than any team’s five starters and Cleveland has a better bullpen. Plus Cleveland has the home field advantage. So for what it’s worth I’m going with Cleveland in six games. But considering my prognostication skills when it comes to picking sporting events, you might want to book a flight out to Las Vegas and put whatever you own on the Cubs.

I guess the bottom line is that it really doesn’t matter who wins because the series is going to be fun simply because of the history of the two teams. It’s been 71 years since the Cubs have played in a World Series and the last time they won the championship was in 1908. The Indians made it to the World Series just 19 years ago but they haven’t won the championship since 1948. Regardless of who wins the agony will finally end for one city.

“I can’t listen to the radio; I can’t open the paper,” my father told me a couple of weeks ago. “If they win, I might move to Canada.”

The above quote is from an enjoyable essay I read the other day from the perspective of a Chicago White Sox fan and his father.

And since I mentioned Steve Goodman above, here’s this:

When I was a boy they were my pride and joy but now they only bring fatigue to the home of the brave, the land of the free, and the doormat of the National League. – From A Dying Cubs Fan’s Last Request

So what team are you picking?