While Dusty Baker copes with the novelty of managing a team out of playoff contention on Sept. 1, the Cubs are back in their natural habitat.
September has traditionally been a month for Cubs players to pad their stats, for Cubs management to bring up its highly touted prospects and for Cubs managers to polish up their resumes. After two seasons of red-hot playoff races, the Cubs have reverted to their old form.
In reality, the white-knuckle finishes under Baker in 2003 and ’04 were exceptions to the rule. Over the last 35 seasons, the Cubs have rarely played meaningful games during the final month of the season.
From 1971-94, before the introduction of the wild-card qualifier, the Cubs won only two division titles and finished within 11 games of first place on only one other occasion, winding up five games behind the New York Mets and in fifth place in 1973 with a 77-84 record.
From 1995 to 2004, the Cubs won one division title (in 2003) and finished within 11 games of first only one other time, winding up five games behind St. Louis and in third place in 2001, with an 88-74 record. Even in their wild card-winning season in 1998, the Cubs wound up 12 1/2 games out of first.
The 20 wild-card qualifiers have averaged 93 wins in the 10 seasons since the concept came into play in ’95. The Cubs have won 93 or more games only twice over the last 59 years–in 1984 and ’89. Truth be told, the cicadas return to Chicago more often than the Cubs contend for the postseason.
Alas, the season must be played out to its logical conclusion, so here are a few things to look forward to in September while the Cubs play out the string.
Lee’s pursuit of 50
After hitting his 38th and 39th home runs on Sunday, Derrek Lee said he’d like to shoot for 50. Sammy Sosa obliterated that number during his three seasons of 60-plus homers, putting up what Ken Griffey Jr. used to refer to as “Bugs Bunny numbers.” Fifty home runs may seem modest in comparison with Sosa’s totals, but it’s still an impressive achievement in the drug-testing era.
Cedeno’s time
Ronny Cedeno has a month to prove he can be an everyday shortstop and prevent management from pursuing Atlanta free agent Rafael Furcal. Whether he gets to play regularly is something only Baker knows.
Santo’s analysis
No one wears his heart on his sleeve like Ron Santo, and he’s usually at his best when the Cubs are at their worst. Even if the commentary is whittled down to a single utterance like “Aaauuugh” or his patented “Oh, noooo” call, a radio listener has a pretty good idea that Santo is upset. This particular team has seemed to upset Santo more than any other in his 15 years of broadcasting Cubs games. Bad for the Cubs. Good for listeners who share Santo’s pain.
Scalpers take a bath
The scalpers who beat the computer/wristband system when individual tickets went on sale in February now face the prospect of having to unload dozens of tickets for 12 irrelevant September home games. In Chicago, this is known as poetic justice.
Maddux’s final starts
While Greg Maddux is expected to exercise his $9 million option to return in 2006, he can still opt to retire. He’s currently on schedule to make three more starts at Wrigley–on Sept. 12 against Cincinnati, on Sept. 17 against St. Louis and on Sept. 23 against Houston. Cubs fans showed Saturday how they felt about Maddux, giving him several standing ovations during his complete-game 2-1 loss to Florida. More tributes are inevitable.
Bee season
The bees return to the bleachers every September, homing in on fans with cups of pop or beer in their hands, i.e. everyone. The bees are a minor nuisance, much like Ronnie Woo-Woo, and just another reminder that the 2005 season is thankfully coming to an end.
