What beautiful day it was. Almost two weeks ago, the Cubs were taking on the St. Louis Cardinals in a day game in Wrigley Field. The temperature was in the low 80s, the wind was gusting in and it was slightly overcast. Near perfection. When the sun popped out following the seventh-inning stretch, it made me think someone was looking down on us and wanted to make a statement.

Well, I got it Big Guy.

The vibe was just different. Sure, Sugar Mama and I were sitting in the bleachers, and that is always a bit different. But everywhere we went that day, there was a sense of finality. It was as if the end results had already been decided. We were in Back to the Future II and knew all the scores before the games were even played.

I understand what He was saying. Message received.

Everywhere we went, the calmness of winning won out. Everyone seemed convinced there was a destiny awaiting this team. It was finite and final.

At least now, with the regular season behind us, we get to find out.

That game was the Cubs’ 99th win of the season, and it clinched  home-field advantage through the NLCS. Two days later, the Cubs won their 100th game, something not done since 1935, and went on to win 103 games. They haven’t won that many contests in a year since 1910. In fact, they’ve lost at least 100 games three times in that same period, the most recently in 2012 when everyone wondered what the hell the new front office was doing.

Well peeps, they were doing some good planning. img_2419

Now, on Friday, they get to see what this team is really made of. It’s got a postseason slogan, “Made for October”, not to be confused with the regular-season slogan, “Try not to suck”. And it’s got a time to start as the first two games will be night affairs. Now they just need an opponent, which we’ll have to wait for about another 24 hours from now to brace for.

In the meantime, I decided to read up on some notes from Bleacher Nation to get ready and stumbled on a comment that struck me as quite Cubs-fan-esque. When talking about where they’d be (at Yak-Zies on Clark) for Game 1 of the NLDS, they said: “If you’re not going to the game but want to watch with virtual friends in real life, stop by. Let’s panic together.”

After this season, why would anyone panic? That was my first thought anyway. My second was, literally, “Oh fuck, we’re Cubs fans.”

We get to play day games in that heavenly venue that everyone who even remotely enjoys the game should get to experience, but we also have a fan-base that, on account of all the non-playoff years (all 36 of my 45 years on Earth), can’t seem to wait for “Next year.”

We don’t know how to be optimistic about this year. But we should be. We have so many things on our side. Here are just a few:

  1. The Players — Either of our top two pitchers could win the Cy Young Award, replacing our Cy Young winner from last year. It’s arguably the best rotation — starters and bullpen — in the Majors, and all it does is sets up an offense that had four infielders — five players overall — start in the All-Star game and two who are stealing votes from each other for the MVP. Theo and Co. have been amazing at putting this collection together and we shouldn’t be nervous about playing anyone.
  2. The Fans — The place is being packed day after day. Tickets for a potential World Series appearance are starting at $2,000 — for standing room only. They know the game, and love to party a little. That’s a combination for a lot of fun over the next few weeks and provides for a real home-field advantage. Which leads us to …
  3. The Field — Have you been to Wrigley lately? What they’ve done with the place is beyond amazing. And I’m only talking inside the park. Outside, it’s nearly unrecognizable with all the construction everywhere, which will be amazing for fans once it’s all complete. It’s been a party zone around Wrigleyville for years, and only getting bigger, but the largest party will be in the stadium when the postseason begins. It’s magical, no other way to put it. I just wish they’d find a way to play games only during the day as night games don’t do it justice.

That list isn’t exhaustive as it didn’t even mention the beer (mmm, Old Style), the fun of riding the train to the game,  the flags and statues that more than embrace but actually breath life to what little historic significance past Cubs have carved out, and the ballpark dogs. You can’t leave out the Chicago dogs, the best there is.

With all that going for us, there’s no reason for us to panic. Stay the course and let’s #FlyTheW 12 more times this fall.

P.S. I’m just glad I’m not close enough to Yak-Zies, or I’d probably be there too.