Winter gets pretty long in the Midwest. Here in Chicago we have the added feature of nightfall around 3:00 pm, thanks to the fact that we are on the eastern edge of the central time zone. Lack of sunlight and temperatures in single digits send many into depression. They also send many of us to the travel agent or in 2005 to a travel website. I found myself on the travel websites earlier today. Once I booked my flight and hotel for Arizona this March guess who showed up? My old friend: Mr. Optimism.
The September 2004 collapse is now history. It is a part of Cubs lore. 2005, now that is a different story. The Cubs are a well built team going into 2005. Like every other team they have holes. Still they have an incredibly talented group of starting pitchers. If these guys stay healthy the sky is the limit. The starting 8 is as talented as I can ever remember. Yeah the Cubs need to find a closer and it’d be nice to have players that considered taking walks occasionally. But you can’t have everything, right?
In the NL Central you have to say the Cubs are better because of the other team’s losses. Can the Astros recover from the loss of Beltran, Kent and Miller? Can the Cardinals rebound following their collapse to the Red Sox? While both the Cards and Astros were playing late into October the Cubs were at home resting their young arms. They also fired their trainers!
I’m telling you this is it. This is gonna be the year. I just know it.
Funny how Mr. Optimism always shows his face this time of year. I wonder how long he’ll be around this year.
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