The Cubs in August

I’m a Cub fan. It’s August. Flashback. I was 13 in 1969. The Cubs led the New York Mets by 10 games in August. It looked good for the Cubs. They might win their first pennant since 1945. But, as every Cub fan knows, they collapsed; the Mets caught up and went on to win the World Series. The agony of that summer has stayed with me all these years. August. I’ve tried to do therapy on this. My therapist just laughs. He hates baseball.

So now it’s August again. The 1969 collapse has been repeated over the years, although in less dramatic fashion. Today, the Cubs are a half game behind the Brewers in their division. The Brewers have pretty much sucked for the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately, the Cubs have pretty much sucked for the last couple of weeks, too, so they haven’t been able to catch them. Earlier this week, the Cubs lost all three games in Houston, scoring a total of three runs. Cub fans everywhere felt the pain. The curse. Waking up at night in cold sweats. Increasing the Zoloft. All to ward off what has been inevitable for Cub fans over the years: the August crash..

Then the Cubs went to Denver, home of the Colorado Rockies. The Cub bats came alive in the first game, scoring ten runs and winning easily. You could almost hear the sigh of relief from Cub fans all over the nation. But even a 10 to 0 lead is no sure thing for the Cubs. But they held on to win, 10 to 2. Then last night, they beat the Rockies 6 to 2. Cub fans started to feel a pulse. Maybe there won’t be an August collapse. Or a September collapse. But we know the Cubs are able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory any time.

One small dose of comfort this season for Cub fans: the Philadelphia Phillies lost game number 10,000, which gives them the most losses of any team in baseball. My heart goes out to all Phillies fans. I feel your pain.