The first thought that came into my head, "It's over."
And I wasn't thinking about that night's game. Though that proved to be true as well, as the Cubs limped along to lose 15 - 6.
No, I figured that if it's the end of August and your trailing the division leader by 9 games and your losing to the worst team in the majors by 8 runs in the 5th inning, then your season, for all intents and purposes, is over.The 2009 Cubs are over. They won't win the division, the Cardinals are too good and are playing too well right now. The Cubs don't stand a chance for the wild card. They are 8.5 games back in that race to teams that have played consistently better baseball all season.
Lou Piniella keeps saying that the team just needs to put together a good winning streak and they'll be right back in the hunt for the division title.
I'd like a little bit of whatever Piniella is smoking or drinking. Cubs haven't won more than 5 in a row all season - and that only happened once or twice. When you're 9 games out you gonna need a bigger winning streak than 5 to even make it look like a race.
The Chicago Tribune published a little factoid in their print edition (I couldn't find it online) that showed what the Cubs would have to do down the stretch (and how the Cardinals would have to play) if Piniella and the boys wanted to win the division. In other words, the Trib did the math on the prospects for the remainder of the Cubs' season.
The result doesn't look good. Regardless of how the Cards play, the Cubs pretty much have to play near or above .700 ball over the next six weeks. I don't think anyone who has followed the Cubs this season believe that this is possible. They've basically been a .500 club all summer. Why would things suddenly change in September?
I will still watch games through to the end, but at this point I'm calling the Cubs season over.
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