raw

As a child, I lived about 7-8 blocks from the old Comiskey Stadium. I was somewhat of a White Sox fan and somewhat of a Cardinal fan because I had family in St. Louis where we'd go for family reunions. Also, the Sox were pretty good in '83 and the Cards won it all in '82. And as a 6 and 7 year old respectively, I rooted for both of those squads. But my life/childhood changed in the summer of 1984. I moved back to South Bend, IN and spent the summer with my childhood best friend, my grandfather. Obviously, back in the 100% WGN games and before the lights. So we spent most of that summer watching a very special Cubs team after The Price is Right and The Young and the Restless were over. I remember my grandfather used to go on about how dark-skinned Gary Matthews was, "Ooh, he black as night". And he used to tell me stories about his childhood which always amazed me. My grandfather was not an educated man. He was a 6th grade dropout, who only started school at 9 because he had to work to help support his family which lived in a dirt floored home in Arkansas. My grandfather was born February 27, 1909. He was born into the world with the Cubs as the reigning World Series champs. He died in 1996 having never seen a Cubs championship. I'm not going to claim he was some kind of die hard Cubs fan who's heart broke over and over the 87 years he lived. But he is the reason that I am that way, despite baseball taking a distant 2nd to my love for football overall. 2016 has actually been a pretty shitty year for me personally. My 15-year old stepdaughter, who I have lived with since she was 3, decided she wanted to go live with her father who has been pressuring her and her brother to do so since he lost the custody battle in 2005. Mind you, she has literally 0 memory of ever living with her father as my wife and him started going thru divorce before her 1st birthday. Not to mention that the court decision to have a then 14-year old child decide live with a father (away from her full and half brothers she'd always lived with) she had never lived with before, with no compelling reason to do so, was completely unprecedented in the state of PA. She has since claimed abuse against her father, which she will do nothing about because brainwashed. But anyway, I also had surgery this year to remove my gall bladder. And then spent an additional week in the hospital for pneumonia from the recovery. First time I've ever had as much as a non-wisdom tooth related medication filled by a pharmacy. My wife has also been hospitalized twice. Prince died. Phife Dawg is dead. Overall, a pretty crappy year for me and my family. But this gives me infinite hope. That everything is going to head in a positive direction. Either that or hell has frozen over and we will all die in 2 days when Trump ends the world.

Montero gone. Lackey gone. Arrieta gone. Zobrist just about gone. Those first 3 will clear up about 40M.

I'm interested. VEry interested.

Yeah, Almora should be OF Baez in 2017. Little bit larger role than Szczur had this year, but bench player who's starts are dictated by his ability to hit or an injury. There's plenty of ABs to be had between Zobrist's rest, Schwarber and/or Heyward sitting vs. tough LHPs, and Fowler (if back) getting rest and likelihood of injury.

I've been under the assumption that Fowler was gone after this year. But I don't see how they can NOT re-sign him. He's going to get a contract that's probably a little too much, but it's probably necessary for this team. Probably looking at a 4-year deal. Turns 31 before next season. He'll lose some of the speed that has made him a really good player, and I never trusted his defense as continuing to be as good as it has been. But honestly, his speed wasn't some huge factor this season. His value is in that he can get on base. 6th in the league in OBP. And his eye isn't going anywhere as he ages. Consistently elite BB/PA and him in the leadoff spot really sets up this lineup to continue to score a ton of runs with Bryant, Rizzo, and Zobrist also being OBP monsters. Guys like Maybin, Dyson, Cain would be solid gets but all of them are a step backwards from Fowler, I believe even going forward. And while a turnaround for Heyward and a full season of Schwarber and Willson will help make up the difference, there's really no reason not to just keep your trade assets and spend the money on Fowler. The only issue may be if you can get Fowler and an elite closer (though I don't know why money would be a huge issue at this point). But I think you can lose Hammel's salary and possibly do something about Montero and get cheaper options than Wood, Cahill, Soler (trade), and Coghlan.

I think I can pinpoint the exact moment when I realized this had a good chance of happening. My worst co-worker is (not coincedentally) a cat enthusiast. She has a daily calendar with pictures and quotes based on those pics. Well, April 29th, when I walk into the office she gives me the calendar page from the day before. The picture is a cat with a Cubs helmet on its head and says, "This is the year". The Cubs were dominating to the tune of a 17-5 start at that point, with 9 games scoring at least 7 runs. Record breaking run differential. Arrieta was still in God mode. Lester didn't have any of the early season struggles he had in 2015. Hendricks was dealing. First half Hammel. Oddly enough, the whole "waiting for things to go wrong cause Cobs" never really happened for me. Even after the Rajai Davis HR. I was more annoyed than anything else. This team just felt like a team of destiny.

#Championship Oh wait, already got one!

Man, just got hit with anger/sadness that Fred isn't here to enjoy this. He deserves this. #F-Cancer

Do better next time. And Shortstops. Why can't they make the whole team out of catchers and shortstops? Could be done. LF- Schwarber (former, maybe future C) CF- Bryant (1 inning at SS this year) RF- Coghlan (emergency catcher/IF, this is a stretch) 3B- Baez (obviously) SS- Russell (obviously) 2B- Zobrist (2 innings at SS this year, that I don't remember) 1B- Contreras (obviously) C- Montero (obviously)

These predictions were terrible. Dex waited until the 4th pitch, and Javy's was the only of the 3 Cubs HRs that did NOT match that description. Do better next time. And Shortstops.

So glad the Cubs traded with an AL team for a 6'4" lefty reliever who closed the last game of the World Series.

I didn't post in the game threads because I did games 1-4 and the Cubs were down 3-1. Then I didn't in Game 5 and they won....so I had to stick with it. I took my son to the park Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday until dark (about 7 EST), with me wearing the same thing each day. I didn't post anything about the game on Facebook. Of course, I also found a link on my Roku to where I could hear audio from Vasgergian and Buck Martinez instead of Buck/Smoltz. I couldn't find such a link for Game 7 though, so maybe all this is just coincedence and this is a team of destiny.

prime Rizzo 2nd full year of Bryant 2nd full year of Russell Schwarber hit 7-17 with 6 months off, playing in what will actually be his 1st full season Contreras in his 1st full season Heyward probably won't be the worst regular player in MLB next year Baez who changed his approach at times, is still projected for the bench Bring back about 90% of the best pitching staff in baseball Oh and they could still bring back Fowler and Soler could become the stud he's teased he could be

Raw you are the first internet person I Remember from Cubs taking and I really want to say congrats Congrats man. We deserve this horsefeathers. I know I'm not part of the team, but so many hours we have dedicated to talking about this team. I'm a football fan first, but I live and die for the Cubs. We deserve this feeling. :flythew:

All year man. It's great that it's hard to even pick an MVP of this team. Bryant and Rizzo will be top 3-5 for NL MVP. Had co-NLCS MVPs, which could have easily also gone to Hendricks, Rizzo, Fowler or Russell. Zobrist gets WS MVP, which could have also gone to Rizzo, Bryant (2 big HRs), Arrieta or Lester (2 W each), and then you have Russell with a team-leading 8 RBIs in this series, and the inspirational story of Kyle Schwarber who somehow "quietly" went 7-17 after nearly 7 months off.

Monday, I took my son trick-or-treating (with a group of neighbors) wearing my Cubs hat. We went by a funeral home that was giving out candy. He goes to me...."which kid is yours?". I point him out. He then says, "I should give him more candy since your boys won't be getting a ring". After we talked and I told him we'd get it done, he said if the Cubs came back to win the series, there would be a championship hat for me, on him. You'd think a mortician would recognize the dead better. WE AIN'T DEAD BABY! ALIVE AND VERY horsefeathering WELL

Feels good to say that. Honestly never thought I'd see this day.

WE DID IT!!!!!!!

Gonna be a great bit of irony when Cleveland gets Cleveland'ed. The World Series is scheduled during the start of the NBA season to try to hide you from the fact that the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead.

Everything they are doing is just a little off.

horsefeathers this defense.

My fuckin God!

Would be interesting if Bryant didn't throw the ball into RF all 2nd inning. Lackey actually pitching very well.

Pa-horsefeathering-thetic.

So cruel that the only person that can hit now is Heyward