Baseball

Piniella has changed culture of the Cubs

Lovable losers? Manager erased that reputation in a hurry

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About that time last year, you started to think that Piniella should have stayed retired. The Cubs were a lost cause and had been one since 1908.

But by year’s end, the Cubs were in the playoffs. They didn’t get out of the first round, but for this woeful franchise, that qualifies as a successful season.

There hasn’t been any nonsense in the clubhouse — at least none that’s made national news — since the June 11 incident. And this year, despite losing Alfonso Soriano to a broken hand, despite losing Zambrano for a couple of weeks with a sore shoulder, the Cubs just keep rolling along.

You have to give a lot of credit to the team’s general manager, Jim Hendry, who has put together a team that leads the National League both in offense and team ERA. But the Cubs have had teams that have looked good on paper before, and they’ve ended up disappointing everyone.

This is a franchise, after all, that’s 19 years removed from its last 90-win season. In fact, in the past 70 years, it’s won 90 games just three times. And during those years, they’ve had some great players and some very good teams.

During the eons of losing, the one reason most frequently given is that the Cubs remain the only team in baseball to play most of their home games during the day. It’s not natural for today’s player, the argument goes. And the Cubs are proof.

This year, the Cubs are 31-8 in the Friendly Confines. Some of that may be because the home team is used to playing in the afternoon and the visitors aren’t allowed to take amphetamines anymore. But you have to give some credit to Piniella. Maybe he’s impressed on the Cubs the importance of getting to bed at a civil hour. And maybe he’s convinced them that they don’t want to get on his bad side by losing.

Whatever the reason, he’s at the helm, so he gets the credit. The book on him has been that he’s good with veteran teams and not so good with kids. The Cubs are a veteran team, and they’re winning at a pace no Cubs team in memory has won before.

He’ll be 64 in August, and there aren’t any managers not named Joe Torre who are older than that. But he still lacks patience and still hates losing, and he’s teaching the Cubs to hate them, too.

Good thing for Chicago he didn’t retire. Good thing for baseball, too.

Mike Celizic is a contributor to NBCSports.com and a freelance writer based in New York.

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