I'm Scared of a Sweep

The cubs are good. When you have Alf, Aramis Ramirez and Derek Lee in the same lineup, your team should score a bunch of runs, especially at Wrigley Field. What makes me less scared of them has been how little they've won with these guys. This club is two seasons removed from a team that only won 66 games. Yeah, they didn't have Soriano in '06. They also now have Harden. They have Fukudome. Geovany Soto has emerged as a great catcher. I don't know which of the acquisitions changed the tide for the cubs but it does appear they are great right now.

The dodgers are better. O.K., stop laughing. They don't hit the dodgers, sporting the lowest batting average against them of .238...dodgers only hit .235 off the cubs, doh! The cubs pitchers have a 2.47 era against L.A. The dodgers hold a 2.49 era over the cubs. Wow, this is a pretty evenly matched series. It shouldn't given Chicago's lineup versus the dodgers lineup. It shouldn't given the names on the dodgers' pitching staff vs. Zambrano and company. It's going to come down to who wants it more. In that department, I like the dodgers' chances. Smells like '88 all over again.

Or the dodgers get swept and everyone looks at the lineups, shrugs, and says this is what was bound to happen when the weak dodgers hobble in as playoff contenders when in any other division they'd be 4'th place teams that would have been eliminated from the hunt a month ago. Sometimes when expectations are low, it's a hell of a lot easier to deliver. The cubs are expected to win, there's a lot more pressure on them to make it 'the year' given they're the team that hasn't won a world series in the longest.

Where are you, Brad Penny?