Sept. 30--The last time the Chicago Cubs won a game in October was in 2003, an 8-3 drubbing of the Florida Marlins in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series. We all know what happened next.
So it's kind of, sort of understandable that some Cubs fans are reluctant to celebrate the team's ticket to the 2015 postseason, that do-or-die wild card game on Oct. 7.
The Cubs have to win that sudden-death play-in game or it's all over, just like that. And they haven't won a postseason game since, um, you know. They're 0-for-9 since then, in fact.
So when the Cubs officially earned a shot at a World Series late Friday, the response from a lot of fans wasn't "Pinch me so I know I'm not dreaming." It was "Wake me up when they win that game."
Those fans don't want to get their hopes up -- or their hearts broken -- over one game. They're definitely not buying a playoff T-shirt yet.
It doesn't help that the team's success has been greeted with the inevitable reminder of all its past failures. The Cubs clinched their spot a full 12 days before the play-in game, giving news outlets and Cub-haters a very long window in which to recount the too-familiar narrative that goes all the way back to 1908. For example: www.chicagotribune.com/unlucky
The young Cubs on the current roster are trying to write a new ending to that story. Trying so hard, in fact, that they're at least a year ahead of expectations. Fans have had plenty of reason to doubt it, but it turns out team President Theo Epstein's rebuilding project was for real.
Early in the season, rookie slugger Kris Bryant gave fans a reason to look at the field instead of their phones. In the closing weeks, pitcher Jake Arrieta riveted their attention, no-hitting the Dodgers and chalking up his 20th win of the season with a complete game shutout vs. the Brewers.
That's how it went this summer: Instead of coming to Wrigley Field to soak in the ambience of a crumbling urban ballpark, people came to watch the Cubs win. The longer it went on, the harder fans braced themselves for the collapse that never came. Holy cow. This season's going to extra innings.
So go ahead, buy a shirt. Get the long sleeves, even. We don't know, but we've been told: It can be cold in Wrigley Field in late October.
