Ron Santo’s call here is the real highlight.
YES. YES SIR. OH. YES. HOW ABOUT THAT. OPENING DAY. MY GOSH. HE NAILED THAT ONE.
This is a special one because I thought the Cubs would go undefeated and that Fukudome was better than Ichiro and just about every crazy thing that you could imagine. I felt it. You felt it. That was supposed to be a special season.
And they were – winning 97 games and the division by 7.5 and sending almost every single player to the All Star game. It was awesome until it wasn’t when they got swept.
I start here because that was supposed to be a World Series year and in hindsight it’s very forgettable. Largely because of the Dodgers NLDS sweep but also because there’s so many failed expectations worth forgetting.
So as I prepare for this season, I want it to be markedly different than 2008 in two notable ways:
First, I’d like to embrace the daily distraction for more holistic purposes. It’s not all wins and losses as much as it is the process of escaping reality to watch a baseball game. Like being an adult and realizing trips to Las Vegas almost always end with you losing money. So you stop measuring the quality of the trip in the amount of your table winnings and just enjoy the fact you got a couple days in nice weather. That’s my primary sentiment about this baseball season: We’re going to Vegas to get our dicks smashed.
Second, finish strong. The 2008 team went 12-17 in the last 29 games and completely ran out of gas because they had no depth or youth. So in comparison, I love how much bounce and athleticism we’re running out in 2025 with a number of young prospects knocking on the door for playing time.
What’s a prospect?
Jim Hendry
pros·pect
/ˈpräˌspek(t)/
noun
1. A young baseball player destroyed by Dusty Baker pitch counts
And while we’re on the subject of the 2008 team, I think the most impressive statistic is the number of times the recorded 3+ wins vs. 3+ losses:
- 15 separate times the 2008 Cubs won 3 or more games in a row
- Only 4 times they lost 3 or more games in a row
That’s how you get to 95+ wins in a 162 game season. And while I doubt the 2025 club has the kinda fire power needed to create that discrepancy, I think limiting the 3+ losing streaks is our key to get there.
Other programming notes:
- Fukudome jerseys still play. So if you got one, by all means…
- Me and Mahoney should have a season preview podcast published later today but don’t get mad if it sucks
- I think we’re ditching YouTube on the podcast this year because it’s too much work to sync video correctly with good audio and I just don’t want to do that
- I’d rather have one good audio file than one average audio file and one below average video file if that makes sense
- I started listening to Wheel of Time on tape the other day and have been enjoying it and you guys can absolutely rip on me for being a fucking loser for this. I won’t argue
- I’ve been craving pancakes lately but won’t make a move to satisfy the itch. It’s been a real Mexican stand off around breakfast time for the last 2+ weeks now and I’m still not doing it. I’m not eating the pancakes
- I took a bunch of nice pictures yesterday on my walk. Hopefully I can post them later today after hours and you guys can give me constructive feedback about the quality of my walk and other pictures you’d like to see
- Have a nice day