Oct. 09--It's all on the Cubs now.
They no longer are playing just for their city or their fans.
No, the stakes are much higher in this first National League Division Series between two longtime rivals. Now they have the added responsibility of saving America from another October with the Cardinals.
If the Cubs fail, the country will have to endure many long nights hearing about the best fans in baseball, about a team that has overcome injuries all season and about their 11 bleeping championships.
It's just too much to bear. The Cardinals, quite frankly, have jumped the shark.
This will be the 12th time since 2000 the Cardinals have made the postseason, and everyone outside Missouri and downstate Illinois is tired of hearing about them.
It's a great franchise and knows how to win, but somehow the Cardinals feel the need to remind us constantly they're a great franchise and know how to win.
The Cubs, as we all know, are the franchise most synonymous with failure, based on the fact they haven't won a World Series in 106 years, or before the invention of radio. When they last won in 1908, Joe from Schaumburg wasn't on the line to complain about all the strikeouts with runners in scoring position. It may not be a coincidence.
Yet the Cubs head into this playoff series with nine straight victories and a firm belief they're in the same class as the world-class team they're facing.
It should be a made-for-Twitter-trolls matchup for the ages.
"Obviously the fans are going to be pumped up," Cubs' Game 1 starter Jon Lester said. "Chicago is pumped up. And I'm learning. You know, this will be a good learning experience ... and it's an honor to be a part of it. This has been going on for a long time."
Over the years, Cardinals fans have treated their counterparts with a double dose of pity and mockery, knowing they never would reach their standard of excellence in this lifetime.
But lately they have reserved their best shots for their manager, Mike Matheny, and imperfect closer Trevor Rosenthal. Even the St. Louis Post-Dispatch questioned their reaction of Cardinals fans to the mediocre finish of a 100-win season, calling it "weird and warped" that the fan base gravitates toward the team's shortcomings instead of applauding the fact they're the winningest team in baseball.
As for Cubs fans, it's hard to trash-talk when you're usually on the bottom looking up. But things started to change since Theo Epstein took hold of the wheel, and now Joe Maddon has come on the scene, ripping the so-called "Cardinals Way" and saying he hasn't read Branch Rickey's unwritten rules.
Maddon has toned it down since his classic rant last month, and was as complimentary as he could be on Thursday, rope-a-doping the Cardinals with his benevolence.
Epstein always is reluctant to say anything that could be used against him. Asked about the Cardinals' success during his end-of-season autopsy last October, he said: "I'm a Cub, so I have to hate the Cardinals. But I have to admire the way they (have) run their baseball shop for basically the better part of a century."
That was before this summer's scandal when a Cardinals front-office official allegedly hacked into the Astros' database called Ground Control, prompting a federal investigation. It was a big story for a couple of days, but the Cardinals haven't been raked over the coals like the Patriots are after their scandals, and it quickly drifted away.
Don't look for MLB's broadcast partners to go heavy with that storyline this week.
We probably will be reminded a lot of the Cubs' storied drought and the Cardinals' 11 championships.
It's the only thing that matters, which is why most of America is rooting for the Cubs.
New is good.
psullivan@tribpub.com
