Why I'm rooting for the Cubs this week

Posted Monday, August 27, 2007, at 7:54 AM

Sort of.

At least when it comes to their three-game series against Milwaukee. Here's why.

After being swept by the last place Giants over the weekend, The Brewers are in a freefall. The last thing Cardinals' fans need is for Milwaukee to sweep Chicago or take two of three and start to believe in themselves again.

It's time to eliminate some competition. The division race becomes easier when you're chasing one team instead of two. Right now, it's clear the weakest link is Milwaukee.

After climbing to 14 games over .500 early in the season, the Brewers have produced a record of 41-55 since May 9th.

Their big free-agent signing, Jeff Suppan, hasn't won a game in his last 11 starts. Chris Capuano lost his 11th straight game on Friday night. This last loss occurred after he was demoted to the bullpen.

The ace of the staff, Ben Sheets, has been sidelined with a finger injury since July. He could return this week.

A lot of the Brewers were probably playing over their heads early in the season. Now at 65-65, they're trying to keep their heads above water.

If the Cubs can take two of three from Milwaukee this week and the Cardinals can do the same to the last-place-tied Houston Astros (what happened to those guys?), the Cardinals will have second place all to themselves.

They'll still be only two back of Chicago and have five games remaining with the Cubs - with four of those games in St. Louis.

I'll take my chances.

The ELO adjusted odds report (based on how well a team is playing right now) shows the Cardinals with a 26% chance of making the playoffs.

Should be a fascinating September.

Comments
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Mike...you had me worried for a second there. I actually thought that the semissourian.com had two Cubs fans on their site. That would be two Cubs fans too many!

It would be interesting to see if the Cubs could pull it off. Sure, they are in 1st, but not by much. The Cards will be running off of adrenaline this month with today being their last off day before the end of the season. Last year, the Scrappy Cards proved that they can do it like that.

It would be interesting to see how the media and the coasts react if the Cardinals make the playoffs. ESPN would be drooling at a Cards/Mets rematch!

-- Posted by mattstl77 on Mon, Aug 27, 2007, at 10:36 AM

Here's what I think: Would I be happier if Brewers or Cubs win the World Series? The answer is clearly the Brewers. We want to keep the Cubs as the lovable losers for another century. Thus, a Brewers sweep of the Cubs might rejuvenate the Brewers, but more importantly it hurts the Cubs...and keeps them a little further from the W.S.

Besides, the Cubs are a more fearsome rival. Too much talent, and with Soriano coming back, poised to get on a roll. Thus, it's too dangerous to flirt with them winning just to knock out the Brewers.

-- Posted by Legend on Mon, Aug 27, 2007, at 1:29 PM

Think I'll just stay focused on rooting for the Cards and let the rest of the division fall where it may. You know, the whole Central is wide open. Pittsburg won 7 of their last 10 and Cincinnati is 8-2. The Cubs and Brewers could be at the bottom by October.

-- Posted by TheCamp on Mon, Aug 27, 2007, at 1:55 PM