If, if, if. If game 2 hadn't been so high-pressure, the Cubs could have won it. And if they had won that game, clearly a best-of-seven series would have been to their advandage.

Or, maybe it's exactly that pressure that exposed the Cubs at a time of year that players and teams should be responding to pressure.

And comparing the %s of playoff series to other sports is apples and oranges. NFL teams get one game, regardless of the length of the season. Talk about pressure! It's inherently unfair that the losing team can't come back and redeem itself. And comparing baseball to basketball? Not only is a best-of-seven series too long in baskeball, there's way more teams that get into the playoffs in the first place. The first round of the NBA playoffs is almost always a complete waste of time, even if they shortened it to best of 5.

Think of it as two different seasons. The regular season just qualifies teams to get in, and then they start over with a clean slate. Having the best record during the regular season means nothing except you get a supposedly weaker opponent. But if you just play poorly, you lose, whether it's one game or seven. Cubs showed nothing to indicate that they would have played better over seven games, and they showed nothing to indicate that they have what it takes to overcome pressure, which is what championship teams normally do. Maybe next year.

Sports are especially fun when the team that shouldn't win does. Who would have picked a Dodger sweep? If the team that was supposed to win always did we wouldn't have to play the game.

If the LDS goes to 7 games, baseball's postseason starts to look like hockey's, never ending. Also, the regular season would have to be shortened to 154 games or we'll be watching the World Series along with football on Thanskgiving.

You're wrong.

League Division series has been 5 games since its inception in 1995. You are correct that the LCS was, at its inception, a 5 game series - increased to 7 games in 1985.

Wikipedia's an amazing thing. Open a new tab and check your facts next time. Otherwise you tend to look like, well... a Cubs fan...

Regarding the "meltdown" in Beantown. Wasn't it LA who failed to score TWICE with bases loaded and took 16 hits (to Boston's seven) to score 5 runs? The only reason they're still alive is because their catcher decided to break out of HIS 0-fer slump. If Pedroia starts hitting, the Sox are legitimate championship contenders again.

Jon Lester is pitching tonight. The series should be over by tomorrow...

...as I recall, not so long ago the division contests were 2-for-3, the league contests were 3-for-5, and the Series of course 4-for-7. Wow - talk about PRESSURE!

BTW after being once again heartbroken by the Cubs and having had some time to ponder what went wrong and why, what keeps coming back to me is that neither the team nor the fans (at least in Game 1) really WANTED IT enough! I know that sounds like something from the movitational-speaker-who-lives-in-a-van-by-the-river. But all season long, what made these Cubbies special to old fans and new is that they really played with passion, that when the chips were down they frequently "wanted it" enough to do what was necessary to come back! (And the fans responded by "making some noise" without some silly prompting from an electronic scoreboard.)

In one memorable game against Colorado, they were down by 8 runs and came back to win in the last 2 innings! They "wanted it" then - why not over this weekend?

Winter always comes so early in Chicago...wait, are those leaves drifting past my window, or snowflakes...how many more days till Pitchers and Catchers report?...and stays so long.

Now, how sweet would it be to see Manny face his former team in the world series and light them up?

You make it sound like the Sox did something to Manny and deserve to be "lit up."

Anyway, a Dodger/Sox Series would be awesome for all the "facing the old team" storylines. Not just for Manny, but also for Nomar Garciaparra and Derek Lowe and JD Drew.

Finally, the Badgers blew it against Ohio State, wrecking their chance at a Big Ten title.

Last time I checked, Columbus, Ohio is still a part of the Midwest. Besides, the Midwest had a few other victories: the White Sox stayed alive against the Rays, and the Bears absolutely walloped the pathetic Lions (also from the Midwest, but barely an NFL-caliber team). And the Colts staged a win-or-die comeback against the Texans with more than a little help from Sage Rosenfels.

BTW, although I'm pissed about the Cubs losing, I'm not at all sad about the whiny Brewers losing. So this wasn't a bad weekend for all Midwesterners--just for those who follow the same teams that you do.

They would have played the wild-card team had a team from the East beaten out the Brewers.

And the Cubs could have virtually assured that the Brewers would not be the Wild Card team by simply beating them on Sept. 26 or 28 (or both).

Come on - the Cubs bombing in the playoffs is a fluke? Cub failure is the opposite of fluke. It is anti-fluke. It is the natural order of things. It is the way things ought to be and always shall be. "The Cubs suck" is a logical, eternal truth. The Cubs losing can never be a fluke. The Cubs losing is a manifestation of The Real.

Yikes, its has not been a good week to be a sports fan in the upper midwest.

First, the Twins lose a tough to the White Sox for the last playoff spot. That one wasn't so bad, since one the teams had to lose and I don't mind the White Sox (they're probably third on my rooting depth chart for baseball), but it was still a tough one.

Then the Cubs get swept and the Brewers lose 3 games to 1. And the White Sox are hanging by a thread against the Devil Rays down 2 games to 1.

Finally, the Badgers blew it against Ohio State, wrecking their chance at a Big Ten title. And the Packer's do likewise against the Falcons. Ick.

Yes, I know that there were some exceptions, which is unavoidable when upper midwest teams play each other. The Gophers beat the Hoosiers, and the Bears destroyed the Lions. It is hard to take too much solace from those games since the losing teams were so awful.