Maybe the Cubs need a ball bouncing out of an opposing outfielder's glove and into the stands for a home run in the bottom of the ninth in a do-or-die game for Chicago. Or "The Trip," some opposing player falling over himself heading for home, and getting thrown out at the plate in the bottom of the ninth in a do-or-die game for Chicago. Something that tells the Cubs and their fans, this weird stuff is finally happening to someone else.

Unfortunately for the Cubs, that blessing from the baseball gods might have already come and gone. They might be cursed not because of something horrible they did, but because of a strange play that benefited them -- in 1908, the year of their last World Series title.

That play is one of the most infamous in baseball history -- the play that was called Fred Merkle’s boner until the word “boner” started making teen-aged boys titter. On Sept. 23, 1908, the Giants’ Merkle failed to touch second after a teammate scored on a game-winning hit. Cubs second baseman Johnny Evers tagged second and argued successfully that Merkle was out. Because fans at New York’s Polo Grounds had rushed the field in celebration, the game couldn’t be continued, the tie negated the game in the standings, and when the Giants and Cubs finished in a tie for first, they had to replay that game.

The boner, a gift from the baseball gods (stop tittering, you teen-aged boys), was the spark for Chicago to win the rematch and have enough leftover karma to win their was to be their last World Series title ever.

If indeed the baseball gods bestowed their best and final gift on the Chicago Cubs, then maybe it’s in Piniella’s best mental interest to pretend no curse exists, and to be as gracious and positive as he was after his team’s playoff exit.

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“We’re disappointed, but at the same time I’m really proud of our players,” Piniella said. “This is just a start. We’re gonna get better, fellas. This is just a start. … But I’m proud of our guys, I really am. I told them that. I told them to have a nice, safe winter, and we’ll reconvene next spring and take this thing further, and that’s really the bottom line.”

No, the bottom line is that Piniella and the Cubs are engaged in a futile, Sisyphean task brought about by capricious and cruel baseball gods. If Piniella has any hope of putting his Cubs on the gods’ right side, he had better start believing in them.

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