The Cubs’ record improved 21 games in the first year of Dusty Baker’s tenure. The team came tantalizingly close to its first World Series in 58 years and made a few enemies along the way.
They weren’t the Cubs most Chicagoans had grown accustomed to watching over the years but a new breed of fist-pumping, power-pitching, in-your-face players who followed the lead of their no-apologies manager.
Whether it was confidence or cockiness is in the eye of the beholder. The result was the same. The 2003 Cubs didn’t back down from confrontations or change their approach one iota from the first day of spring training.
But as they prepare to take the first steps in the 2004 season Wednesday in Mesa, Ariz., the Cubs will have to deal with a new reality.
Huge postseason television ratings, Baker’s charisma and the presence of stars such as Sammy Sosa, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior have helped turn the Cubs’ image upside-down. They suddenly are one of Major League Baseball’s glamor teams, like the Yankees, Red Sox and Giants, and are likely to be the focus of national attention all season.
Great expectations have been thrust upon the Cubs in ’04. The addition of Derrek Lee and LaTroy Hawkins, along with Corey Patterson’s return from knee surgery, should make this a low-carb version of the ’03 model–a little leaner, faster and more athletic with the departure of Randall Simon, Antonio Alfonseca and a few others.
Regardless of whether they sign Greg Maddux, the Cubs are legitimate World Series contenders. But if they make the playoffs, they’ll hear constant reminders of their crash-and-burn finish in the National League Championship Series, when they blew a three-games-to-one lead over Florida and coughed up leads in back-to-back heartbreakers in Games 6 and 7.
“Everybody asks about Games 6 and 7,” Baker said. “What about getting there in the first place? Nobody thought we’d get there. Nobody thought we’d beat Atlanta [in the division series] to get to Game 6 or Game 7. Let’s face it. We did have the worst record of anybody in the playoffs, didn’t we? I think we stretched this out pretty good.
“Last year is gone. We’re starting out all over now. Florida is not the champs of 2004. We’re starting all over from the beginning.”
All right. But for every dewy-eyed optimist who follows the Cubs through rose-colored lenses there lurks a black cloud-inducing pessimist standing right around the corner, waiting to remind everyone that the other shoe is just about to drop.
Optimist: Sosa says he will show up at camp on time again. In his quest to become more of a team leader, Sosa is attempting to change his image and be regarded as the consummate team player. Arriving on time is a small but significant step in fulfilling that goal.
Pessimist: Despite 40 home runs and 103 RBIs in ’03, Sosa endured his most difficult season as a Cub, and he started it all by reporting to camp on the first day for position players, ending his tradition of reporting late. Sosa missed 25 games, was beaned twice, underwent surgery to remove a toenail and earned a suspension for using a corked bat. Perhaps someone should persuade him to report one day late in ’04, strictly as a precautionary measure.
Optimist: Patterson, probably the team’s MVP in the first half of 2003, is back from surgery and ready to pick up where he left off.
Pessimist: Center fielder Kenny Lofton, perhaps the team’s MVP in the second half of ’03, signed a two-year deal with the Yankees, leaving the Cubs without a true leadoff hitter. Baker doesn’t foresee Patterson in that leadoff role–yet.
“If you lead him off now, you add another at-bat, plus another time running the bases,” Baker said. “Over the course of the year, that, and playing center field between guys who are getting older in Sammy and Mo [Moises Alou] equals a whole bunch more running. He already is going to have to run enough.”
Optimist: Hawkins replaces Alfonseca in the bullpen. Upgrading from a Yugo to a Mercedes is always a sound idea. Alfonseca’s confidence was shot in ’03 after he lost his closer’s role because of a spring training injury and drew the wrath of Cubs fans for his frequent implosions.
Hawkins’ presence should keep closer Joe Borowski on his toes and ease the burden on the starters to throw 120 or more pitches.
Pessimist: With “El Pulpo” in Atlanta and Todd Hundley in Los Angeles, which lucky Cub will the Wrigley faithful boo unmercifully?
Optimist: In his first two seasons in the majors, Prior has yet to experience a real slump. Prior has allowed two or fewer earned runs in 35 of his 49 career starts, with a 24-12 record and a 2.74 ERA.
Last year he had only three innings in which he looked lost in space: a May 23 start at Houston when a Mark Bellhorn error led to a six-run first, a July 11 start against Atlanta after Prior injured his right shoulder in a baserunning collision with Marcus Giles, and the infamous eight-run eighth inning against Florida in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series.
Pessimist: Nobody’s perfect. How long can Prior keep this up anyway?
Optimist: Almost everyone projected for the 25-man roster has some playoff experience, including newcomers Hawkins, Lee, Todd Walker, Kent Mercker and Todd Hollandsworth.
Pessimist: Florida proved in last year’s playoffs that postseason experience is overrated come crunch time in October.
Optimist: The Cubs should get off to a great start, playing 13 of their first 16 games against Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. They should finish strong, with 14 of their last 17 games against the Pirates and Reds, the salary-dumping co-champs of 2003. The Cubs don’t even play Houston or St. Louis in September. It’s almost as if Major League Baseball wants them to succeed.
Pessimist: The Cubs were only 20-15 against Pittsburgh and Cincinnati last season, and their longest trip is their last one: a 10-game trip to Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and New York from Sept. 16-26. It’s almost as if MLB wants them to fail.
Optimist: With Baker in charge, significant personnel improvements and one of the strongest rotations in baseball, the Cubs have the right stuff to go all the way. The long-awaited Pipe Dream Series between the Cubs and Red Sox could be in store for ’04.
Pessimist: The Cubs will taunt fans again with an agonizingly close finish . . . but, alas, no cigar.
Cubs dates
– Wednesday: Pitchers and catchers report.
– Feb. 23: Position players report.
