Editor’s note: this is a re-post from Sept. 19.
Entering the season’s final week, the 2023 Chicago Cubs still held the third and final wild card playoff berth in their grasp, but only on tie-breaker, over the Cincinnati Reds. Losers of five straight and 2-8 in their last 10, they are sliding to be sure, we can’t help up evoke 2004 Cubs comparisons. It isn’t the first time we’ve made this analogy, and it won’t be the last. We’ve already juxtaposed the 2004 Cubs team with the 2019 edition and the 2017 version.
Although to be fair the ’17 comp didn’t hold at all, and we published that piece far too early in the season.
The current side is very similar to the 2004 Cubs in this regard- what had looked like a near certain playoff appearance, via having the wild card securely in hand, slipped/is slipping through their fingers.
It’s also happening via a very slow burn, gradually.
Kind of like the 2019 team too; it’s not an overnight collapse. Looking ahead to tonight, this team needs to sweep Pittsburgh at home, or at least take 2/3.
As Michael McDonald sang in the Kenny Loggins tune This is It: “And you think that maybe it’s over / Only if you want it to be…who makes a choice in how it goes.”
David Ross you need to listen to Mr. Loggins, who is as relevant as ever these days (his retirement tour was a very hot ticket this summer, and whose song played during the best Super Bowl commercial this year?).
The Miami Marlins are just a half game back of both the Cubs and Reds, with the San Francisco Giants only a game and a half behind them.
Quoting Loggins again “this is it. make no mistake where you are. this is it, your backs to the corner.”
Five Thirty Eight gives them just a 26% chance of making the playoffs, 21% if winning the division. LOL! Why are you even talking about the NL Central division title? Six back with 12 to play, that ship left port a long time ago.
Making Playoffs Clinching Wild Card Winning World Series
Fangraphs 45.6% 44% 1.7%
Nothing much was anticipated from this team.
They’ll face the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers at a time when both will have likely wrapped everything up.
Both teams, at least in theory, will be approaching those series with a less than fully engaged and over-the-top ambitious kind of mindset.
Advantage Cubs. Another thing working in their advantage- this team entered the season, and even the second half of the season, with no expectations.
Nothing much was anticipated from this team. The 2004 Cubs were the polar opposite, and perhaps that was a big part of what ultimately did them in.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now. Follow the website on Twitter and Instagram.