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.

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.

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.

I'm not so sure that they'd have to shorten the season that much. You switch from a 5 game series to a 7 gamer, I can see three days, four days tops getting added to the schedule.

Here's a crazy idea, why not bring back double headers?? It would cut down on the length of the season (say have each team play 4 scheduled double-headers), and it would have a neat throw-back feel...you could even make the teams wear retro jerseys, have retro hot-dog prices...you know, really go all out with it - I think it'd be a huge hit with the fans - AND it would give us time to have a 7 game divisional series.

(i got no argument against the comparison to NHL playoffs...I think they should be shortened in the first round. The nature of the game means your players are WAY too tired come finals and their often not playing at their peak potential...ironic eh?)

cheers!

Scouting? Well, you got four letters right -- the first one ("s") and the last three ("ing"). But the middle letters you were looking for were "u-c-k."

Just like the last 99 years...

wetnoodle,

Yeah, Ohio is in the midwest, but I wouldn't consider it upper midwest, would you? Even Chicago may be a stretch as upper midwest.

And yes, it probably was largely just a bad week for me, but it is pretty interesting how quickly a really good summer for baseball in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota has (almost) come to an end. For a while in the middle of the summer, it looked like all four baseball teams from those states might make the playoffs. Now, unless the Sox come on fire, it will be over.

Scouting? Nah! Ever see four different infielders make an error in the same game? I haven't!

It is obviously the curse of the Billy Goat, and the Cubs' own actions give support to this. (Bartman's action in 2003, was another manifestation of the curse).

A Chicago Sun-Times columnist, forget his name but it begins with a 'T', noted in the paper Sunday how the Cubs enlisted the services of a priest two days before the series began at Wrigley field to "exorcise the dugout". The idea was to drive away all the demonic influences associated with the "curse" and sweep the stage clean for the cubbies to romp to victory.

Didn't happen!

Obviously, the curse of the Billy Goat is even more powerful than an exorcism. Or ...perhaps the cubbies need to get Pope Benedict to do it!

Yeah! Let's make it 7 games - so there are 2 more games and at least one more travel day. Baseball and turkey!

I am somewhat surprised King didn't comment on the stark difference between Sunday's "Black Out" crowd at US Cellular field vs the Wednesday and Thursday "Black Mood" crowds at Wrigley. Sox fans brought it on Sunday. I think the Sox organization's affection for gimmicky marketing tricks is a little irritating. The White Sox also do quite a bit of advertising. For example, the Sox did a All Star ballot promotion, called "Punch AJ" for undeserving catcher AJ Pierczynski in 2005. However, this "Black Out" promotion, which had all the fans in the crowd wearing black, really seemed to get the crowd going. I don't think its why the Sox won their game and lived to fight another day, but it certainly didn't hurt.

I am still trying to figure what was up with the crowds at Wrigley. A good number of Cub fans have gotten nasty. I was at both games in Wrigley and while Wednesday's crowd was sluggish and a little bitter with a smattering of boos that King commented upon. Thursday's crowd was more vocal - both in early enthusiasm and late viciousness - much more booing and heckling on Thursday. Soriano and Fukudome were on the receiving end of the most of the ire. I was seated along the field in left for the Thursday night game and Soriano was getting ripped by a bunch of the more boorish fans. I've heard the same was happening to Fukudome in right.

Memo to Wrigley PA staff: Do not play Eddie Vedder's "All the Way" song when the Cubs are losing in a playoff game. It's depressing. this happened on Wednesday but was wisely ditched on Thursday.

Disclosure: I live in Chicago and I am not a "Cubs Fan" but I prefer the Cubs to the Sox because I lived for 3 years within earshot of Wrigley.