On...Baseball Opening Day & Predictions

BASEBALL!!

Yesterday kicked off the 2009 Baseball season and already the Indians got crushed. Oh, well. 161 games to go. Here are my predictions for the year.

American League

East--Red Sox
Central--Indians (The Indians usually play well in odd years for some reason)
West--Angels
Wild--Yankees

National League

East--Mets
Central--Cubs
West--Dodgers
Wild--Phillies

World Series Prediction Using My Mind: Angels over Mets in 6
World Series Using My Heart (and fairy dust): Indians vs. Cubs (And it doesn't matter who wins in 7)

Other predictions:

• I think both Grady Sizemore and Curtis Granderson will have HUGE years.
• I think Cliff Lee will only go 14-12 this year.
• Tigers will hover around .500 but pitching will be their downfall.
  
• Magglio, Guillen, and Robertson will be traded if things so south.

Also the MLB Application for the IPhone is very sweet, even with the $9.99 price. Live audio for every game! No blackouts, box scores, video, stats, standings, everything. Awesome!

On...Greg Maddux

Greg Maddux

The best pitcher of his generation is hanging up the cleats. 355 game winner Greg Maddux is retiring at 42 years old even though he is clearly in good enough shape for a few more years and a few more wins. But every career must come to an end. Even you you have that many wins, 4 consecutive Cy Young Awards and 18 Gold Glove Awards (the most by anyone ever). He is also 10th all time in Strikeouts (3,371) and only Walter Johnson and Warren Spawn have more wins since 1900. And 17 straight seasons with at least 15 wins or more. That there is amazing.

I've enjoyed watching Maddux since I was a kid loving the Cubs and their ace, Mad Dog in the late 80s and early 90s. A nickname by the way which is clearly a joke. The guy is nice, almost vanilla, but he could paint the corners and tear apart a batting line up. I still admired him when he went to the Atlanta Braves (and yes helped beat my Cleveland Indians in the 1995 World Series). By the way he was 19-2 with a 1.63 ERA. That too is freaking amazing. And the year before his ERA was 1.53. He did make it back to Chicago for a few years before finishing his career with the Padres and Dodgers who gave him little run support. He should have at least 10 more wins.

He is a first ballot Hall of Famer and should get one of the highest percentages of all time in the voting. No one can deny Greg Maddux the halls of Cooperstown. Later Mad Dog.

ESPN has a nice article HERE about Maddux

Career stats HERE

Plus the classic and hilarious "Chicks Dig the Long Ball"
Nike ad from the 90s with fellow Brave Tom Glavine.

On...100 Years of Futility

100 Years of Futility

Well, there's no joy in Chi-town or anywhere else lurks a forsaken Cubs fan. After obtaining the best record in the National League and securing their second straight Central Division title, the 2008 version of the Chicago Cubs have been swept out of the playoffs. Being at Wrigley Field this summer there seemed to be a sense that this year might be different. We could do it. Lesson learned.

That lingering sensation was hope and for better or worse it springs eternal. There's the ancient cliche of wait till next year. Well, it's tough to wait until next year. Actually its quite tedious. I've loved the Cubs for a long time, but now after your heart is broken for so long and the years blend and fade together there really can't quite be the same longing. (1984, 1989, 1998, 2003, 2007, 2008 all failed attempts to even get to the World Series during my lifetime.) And now they have lost 9 straight playoff games dating back to 2003 when they were up 3-1 on the Marlins and needed only one more win to reach the Series. Nothing but blundering baseball since.

I for one didn't feel like this was the year. Yes, the Cubs played really well and it was the arbitrary 100 years since the last championship but it didn't seem to be in the cards. I wasn't even that excited about the prospect of the playoffs this year like I was for the Indians last year. There was a lack of passion in my soul or the dead-eye stare of people who have been through all this before. It was like a date with an ex-girlfriend that you know is just going to turn out bad.

So the Cubs fell apart, dismantled by the Trolley Dodgers (LA-style) and their own ineptitude (walks, errors, no timely hitting, you know stuff that wins championships). There wasn't even time to get excited. 100 years for the Cubs, 60 for the Indians. How on earth did I get put in this position? I have to make sure my daughter roots for a team that actually wins it all once in a lifetime.

Time to pull the plug

I've said it before and I stand by it now. There should be a clause in Major League Baseball that says if you can't win a championship ONE TIME in 100 years then you need to pack up the franchise and put it on the shelf. That's it for the Cubs. I've loved them since I've been 8 and cried on the deacon's bench out front of my parents house when they lost game 5 against the Padres in '84, but enough's enough. Put the Cubs in Cooperstown, keep Wrigley Field, and start anew. New colors, new history, new mascot. The Chicago Grays or The Chicago Americans or The Chicago Riot, anything. Start over. Most Cubs fans will disagree with this blasphemy and it will never happen but I think it needs to be considered. The Cubs and their curse or whatever should be banished to the dustbin of history. It is time to move on, really.

So until next year, Go Cubbies.