Since I’ve been getting some trash talking from Cubs fans (Anon E. Mouse and Billy Dennis), I’d just like to remind them that we’re only in August. There’s still plenty of time for the Cubs to implode.
Case in point, here were the standings on August 15, 1969:
| NL East | W | L | GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cubs | 74 | 44 | – |
| Cardinals | 65 | 53 | 9.0 |
| Mets | 62 | 51 | 9.5 |
| Pirates | 60 | 55 | 12.5 |
| Phillies | 47 | 69 | 26.0 |
| Expos | 38 | 81 | 36.5 |
That year, by the end of the season, the Mets were in first place and the Cubs were eight games behind. (Yes, the Cardinals ended up in fourth place that year, just a couple of years after winning the World Series for the eighth time since 1908.)
Well, here are the standings today, August 15, 2008:
| NL Central | W | L | GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cubs | 74 | 47 | – |
| Brewers | 70 | 52 | 4.5 |
| Cardinals | 68 | 56 | 7.5 |
| Astros | 62 | 59 | 12.0 |
| Pirates | 55 | 66 | 19.0 |
| Reds | 54 | 68 | 20.5 |
As you can see, both the Cardinals and Brewers are well within striking distance. Who will win the division this year?
Quiz- Which team has the best home record in the Major Leagues and has just won its 8th in a row on the road?
Wow. So the Cardinals choked in ’69, too.
Cool.
http://peoriachronicle.com/2008/05/05/national-league-central-standings-5608/#comments
Yeah, the Cardinals have their off years, but they make up for it by winning the Series more than once a century.
The CUBS are masters at ” pulling defeat from the jaws of victory ” ! Does anyone else know that the final sign of the apocalypse is the next Cubs team winning the World Series? Then Jesus Christ will return, Hell freezes over, Etc.!
Wait! I, almost, forgot that HELL froze over when the Red Sox won the World Series.
Agreed, C.J.
I’m not going to feel safe until they are hoisting the trophy.
I’ve never quite understood how anyone who was born and raised in Central Illinois could ever be a fan of a team from Missouri. Unless they were bandwagoners, and just didn’t have the chutzpah to root for the home state team… simply because they didn’t win as often as the Missouri team.
Are they the Illinois Cubs now?
I attended MU (didn’t graduate from there, but that’s another story,) met my wife in Missouri, whose folks live in KC, and my parents own a vacation home at Tan-Tar-A in the Lake of the Ozarks. Missouri is close to my heart, but not that close…
The Cubs are Illinois. CJ, you are a traitor 🙂
Let’s see now… pull the old Atlas out, and… yep, Chicago is STILL in Illinois… hold on a second here… and, yep… St. Louis is STILL in Missouri.
Wow. Just imagine. You don’t think that those pennant winning years in ’64, ’67, and ’68 had much to do with the “bandwagoners” becoming St. Looey fans, do ya? Naw… couldn’t happen.