FOUR DAYS AND COUNTING

Opening day is around the corner and this is the year.

I was born in the city of Chicago in the winter of 1977 and have been a Cubs fan since 1984 when I first really got into baseball. That is also the season that the Cubs were within 5 outs of making the World Series for the first time since 1945, but proceeded to lose the next three games to the San Diego Padres. I haven't forgiven the Padres since.

The next year, the Cubs failed to make the playoffs.

Of course, the Cubs were within five outs again in 2003. Most people (sports fans at any rate) know what happened next. Mark Prior (now a Padre, damn Padres) got a fly ball in foul territory which Moises Alou was tracking when a fan (who shall remain nameless in this blog) reached out and kept Alou from making the catch.

Although, I don't blame the He Who Shall Not Be Named Fan completely for the collapse, because with a runner at first and one out in the inning, the next pitch from Prior induced a ground ball to Alex Gonzales for what should have been an inning ending double play. Gonzales booted the ball, unforgivably. While I'm not happy with the Fan Who Shall Not Be Named, I am even less happy with Gonzales, and immediately traded him from my team on my XBOX Baseball game. Thankfully in the next season, the real Cubs followed suit.

In that next season, the Cubs failed to make the playoffs.

Last year, the Cubs once again won the Central Division and have had a productive offseason (even if much of it was spent on speculation that has so far proved unfruitful on the possibility of aquiring All Star second baseman and leadoff man Brian Roberts from the Orioles.) So, the question becomes, can the Cubs do what they haven't done in 100 years?

I know what most of you are thinking, "Win the World Series", and sure, that is part of it, but in order to accomplish that, they will have to do something else that they haven't done in 100 years, make the postseason in consecutive years.

The last time they accomplished this was 1907 and 1908.

This year they will try again on the quest to win that elusive World Series Title.

This blog will chronicle that quest from a fan's perspective.