For Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta, the thick anticipation that greeted him Thursday on the way to Wrigley Field and inside the clubhouse always seemed like a matter of when _ not if.
Arrieta began the season as the reigning Cy Young Award winner on a team picked to win the World Series, so in many ways, he has come to expect the excessiveness of Cubdom. A man who poses nude for a national magazine understands and accepts the nature of sports stardom in a city short of celebrities.
So Arrieta was right where he always thought he would be on this mid-September afternoon, standing in a tank top and addressing the pros and cons of clinching the National League Central title so early for a team that plans on playing so late into October.
"You can feel it, you really can," Arrieta said of the excitement that began to build five hours before the Cubs' potential clincher against the Brewers.
A sign outside Murphy's Bleachers asked: "Do You Believe In Magic?" A fan carried a poster on Grace Street that promised: "It's Gonna Happen." Construction workers on Rush Street wished Joe Maddon good luck, and schoolkids on Clark Street waved to the Cubs manager as he went to work.
Actor John Cusack watched batting practice from the on-deck circle. Media members filled every chair on the bandwagon, er, in the interview room. When Jorge Soler drilled a 416-foot home run into the left-field bleachers in the second inning, the crowd of 41,362 roared like a baseball town on the verge of something special.
Like it feels Chicago is.
"It's what we envisioned all along," Arrieta said.
Perhaps not if you're Cubs lefty Mike Montgomery, who threatened to become the answer to a trivia question with six strong innings: What obscure pitcher started the game the Cubs played when their magic number was one?
Back in the season opener April 4, Montgomery pitched two innings in late relief for the Mariners. On July 20, the Cubs gave up minor league prospect Dan Vogelbach to acquire the useful veteran left-hander. As the Mariners pursued the second AL wild-card spot, Montgomery tried etching his name into Cubs history.
How fitting that Montgomery, the Cubs' No. 6 starter, played a major role in a game potentially this memorable. Montgomery's value speaks to the versatility of the deepest roster in baseball, a pleasant problem as the Cubs now prepare to pare it down for the playoffs.
If that dilemma worries President Theo Epstein, he hid it well behind a wall of stoicism. Epstein expressed doubt the Cubs would lose their edge over the final 16 games but sounded neither concerned nor terribly confident. He sounded like someone asked to review a movie before it ends.
"It's not navel-gazing time just yet," Epstein said. "It's all about what we do in October."
It always has been since the Mets swept the Cubs in four games 11 months ago. When asked if that World Series-or-bust mindset began to take shape in spring training, Maddon went back even further and referenced the winter meetings. He probably could have traced its origin to minutes after Game 4 of the NLCS _ reality he relishes.
"Why would you ever want to work somewhere where there are no expectations?" Maddon said. "It's fun."
It's hard to imagine a manager enjoying his job any more than Maddon, even as the difficult roster decisions loom. He identified the top priority after the Cubs clinch: Rest key players who might be fighting nagging injuries.
With the top contenders for the Cy Young and MVP awards in his clubhouse, Maddon knows better than to tinker too much with the outings of Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks or the at-bats of Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. Pitchers figure to get 100 pitches each start. After a stretch of 21 road games in 27 days, regulars will begin to ease up on the workload the closer the Cubs get to Oct. 7.
"The overall overarching concept is to work backward (from there)," Maddon said.
If this isn't Maddon's first rodeo, he acknowledged it might be the first time he has managed a team with as many options as the Cubs offer heading into the playoffs. With due respect to the 2008 Rays team Maddon led to an American League pennant over Epstein's Red Sox, he gave the Cubs the edge in starting pitching and talented youth.
"To be this young and to be this good ... that's the part that stands out to me," Maddon said.
Maddon appreciates managing the Cubs as much as he savors the success of everyone who contributes, from Arrieta and Bryant to the more anonymous names of bullpen coaches and staff assistants. Those are the people the longtime minor league manager and major league bench coach will think of first whenever the corks start popping, the ones not used to seeing that many figures in a paycheck _ the Cubs issued full playoff shares last year worth $122,327.
"At that moment (of celebration), I'll look to the coaching staff," Maddon said. "My first thought always goes there. I was that guy. I know in 2002 how that (playoff share) helped pay for my daughter's wedding."
Money time awaits Maddon's Cubs _ and not a moment too soon.
