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Your October guide: The Cubs are must-see

Succeed or fail, South Siders will be talk of the playoffs

Image: PiniellaAP
Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella, left, and closer Kerry Wood will be worth watching in the playoffs.

You're about to hear about curses and goats and ivy, about Ron Santo and Leo Durocher, about Leon Durham and Steve Bartman and Herman Franks, about Tinker and Evers and Chance, about deep-dish pizza and Old Style beer and creative uses of the phrase "long suffering."

You'll know all about the Babe calling his shot and about Harry leading the singing in the seventh inning and about the most beautiful ballpark in all the land. You're going to hear about Oprah and MJ and Ditka, too.

They'll tell you about old men and widows and immigrants and countless others who have waited all their lives hoping their little Cubbie bears could do what the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers and other teams sometimes have made look so easy.

In case you haven't been keeping up, this postseason is beginning with about the most basic, simple and appealing storyline since, well, 2004. Step aside, Boston Red Sox.

To Cubs players and coaches, to general manager Jim Hendry and manager Lou Piniella: You may not realize it, you may not care, but you're about to do something that will be remembered in Chicagoland for a long, long time.

Maybe you'll succeed, maybe you'll fail, but after months of anticipation, as the story has unfolded pretty much the way Cub fans hoped, this is your time.

Every other postseason storyline pales in comparison. Yes, the Tampa Bay Rays are an absolutely wonderful story, and the Boston Red Sox still have all kinds of appeal. The Los Angeles Angels and Philadelphia Phillies are smart, resourceful teams. The Dodgers always make October better.

This is baseball's golden age, an era of beautiful new ballparks and huge crowds and parity. So perhaps it's fitting that as the Yankees step out of the October spotlight for the first time since 1993, the Cubs are the next larger-than-life story.

As you get the chips and dips ready for baseball's postseason, here's a viewer's guide.

Bombers won't be forgotten
The Yankees aren't here, but that doesn't mean we won't be hearing plenty about them.

Happens every year they're not in the playoffs. Hirings. Firings. Threats. Trades. Rumors of trades. Rumors of signings.

Baseball has a rule that teams aren't supposed to make news during the World Series. Guess which team prompted that rule?

Nevertheless, the Yankees are always almost as interesting a story in the offseason as they are during the season. That's especially true now with Hank Steinbrenner in charge.

Say this for the man: He likes to talk. And he's not afraid of looking like a fool.

He's the guy who decided to replace Joe Torre with Joe Girardi last winter. With Torre in the playoffs for a 13th straight year, Hank has already pointed out that the Dodgers are in a weak division and really, this shouldn't even count as a postseason appearance.

Kind of makes you root for a World Series at Dodger Stadium, doesn't it?

There's more where that came from. There'll be whispers about CC Sabathia signing with the Yankees and maybe Derek Lowe and Mark Teixeira, too.

I know what you're saying. The Yankees should go away and be quiet and let the teams in the playoffs have all the fun. I hear you saying it, but I know you don't mean it.

Honk if you love the Rays
There's a gee-isn't-this-a-sweet-little-story angle to this franchise's first postseason appearance. The Rays never won more than 70 games in their first 10 seasons, and with small crowds and a long list of personnel mistakes, they were baseball's most irrelevant team.

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Now the Rays might just be baseball's most interesting club. New ownership. New management. A wonderful blend of young talent and smart veterans. An outstanding manager in Joe Maddon.

They did things the right way last winter, adding veterans, bolstering the bullpen and upgrading the defense. After the novelty of their story wears off, they'll be seen as a team absolutely good enough to win a championship.

Sabathia's redemption
The big lefthander has won one of four postseason starts and has a 7.17 ERA. He went to the mound twice in the 2007 ALCS against Boston and lost both times. So this October is about redemption.

The Brewers acquired him in early July in a go-for-broke move. He went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts for them, with seven complete games (three shutouts). He took the ball Sunday afternoon and, with a playoff berth on the line, went the distance against the Cubs.

There'll be plenty of speculation about where he'll end up and whether he'll be able to say no to the Yankees if it means taking less money to return to his native Southern California.


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