Sorry, but I have to do it. As I've recently noted, I haven't been able to enjoy sports much lately because teams I hate keep winning. I thought my luck was due to change, but lo and behold, every single team I was initially rooting for in the Division Series lost. At that point I had to face the facts: I'm a jinx. If I want a team to win they might as well forfeit the series.

We're now at the League Championship Series, both of which feature a team I despise and a team I'd love to see win the World Series. I was never too fond of the Dodgers, but after they killed the Cubs' dream season I officially wish them nothing but failure. The Phillies, on the other hand, are a team with an exciting nucleus of players whose city hasn't experienced a major pro sports championship since 1983. All my regular readers know how I feel about the Red Sox, but the Rays, on the other hand, are a great Cinderella story. Right now I want a Rays-Phillies World Series more than anything else sports-related, but I know I'm doing both teams a disservice by investing any emotional energy in their postseason runs.

The time has come for me to do something drastic: I'm going to root for the teams I hate. It'll be hard, but somehow I'll convince myself that I love the Dodgers and Red Sox.

Then again, why wouldn't I love the Red Sox? They have so much history. They've won the fourth-most World Series of any Major League franchise, they play in beautiful Fenway Park, and they've already established themselves as the Team of the Century. I mean, last century was the Yankees', so that makes it the Red Sox' turn now! Why am I writing out that long two-word name anyway? How about I call them the "Sox" for short? I mean sure, the White Sox had their name first and put the word "Sox" on their uniforms first, but we all know they have no history and that baseball would lose nothing if they ceased to exist tomorrow. What about those Rays? What history do they have? This is their first winning season in a mere 11-year history. The entire sports universe revolves around Boston, so those little expansionites from Florida have no business stealing what rightfully belongs to the Sox! Go Boston! Woot! Yankees suck!

How about the Dodgers? First they do us all a favor and send those obnoxious Cub fans home early, and now they get to beat the Phillies. Manny Ramirez (AKA The Coolest Player in Baseball History) is going to be Manny all over the Philly pitching staff, and none of those Philly sluggers are going to be a match for Mr. October himself, Derek Lowe! I can't possibly think of a better storyline than Manny against his old team in the World Series. Who cares about ending droughts when you get to watch a scraggly-haired slugger not give a #### and still own everyone? We all know the fans in Philadelphia are a bunch of jerks, so it'll be fun to laugh at them when they're stuck watching the Dodgers clinch the pennant before a half-empty stadium. The Phillies' history is a joke too. They used to play in the Baker Bowl, for crying out loud!

This upcoming rematch of the 1916 World Series is going to be great for baseball. You can't beat those big-market TV ratings! Manny, Lowe and Torre facing the BOSTON RED SOX? Sounds like heaven to me!

Why do I suddenly feel dirty?

Four days. That's all it took for the Cubs' dream season to turn into a nightmare. Sure, the Cubs have let us down before, but this time it feels worse.

Last year was disappointing. The Cubs didn't show up to play at all and the Diamondbacks swept them. Of course, the Diamondbacks had the NL's best record and home-field advantage, so it wasn't totally unbelievable that they won it. What hurt most about last year's Cubs was that they played like they didn't care. This year the Cubs had everything going for them. They had the NL's best record. They had home-field advantage. They had an opponent that only made the Playoffs because they played in a weak division. Somehow, they found a way to look helpless against the Dodgers. I'm still boggled by it. How could the best Cub team of most fans' lifetimes possibly screw this one up?

I feel like I did after the collapse of 2003. I'm angry. I'm hating the Cubs right now. I'm wishing they'd missed the Playoffs altogether rather than get our hopes up for nothing. Seriously. Swept? By the 84-78 Los Angeles Dodgers? How does a mediocre team suddenly look unbeatable against the league's best team? If I ever have children I'm not raising them to be Cub fans. No one deserves this type of heartbreak.

Unless they go back to the Brooklyn era, Dodger fans don't know heartbreak. Cub fans do. We Cub fans needed our team to win that series. We needed to know that our organization could produce a team that would win in October. Instead, we have to endure another year of talk about black cats, billy goats and Steve Bartman. Now the idiots in the media can remind us daily that the drought reached triple digits. Dodger fans needed their team to win that series like Bill Gates needs to win the lottery. 20 years without a World Series title is nothing.

On the bright side, the Cubs have now made the Playoffs two years in a row. Maybe next year they'll actually win a game or two when they get there. A friend of mine pointed out that in 2003 the Cubs came out of nowhere and weren't expected to beat the Braves in the first round. The past two years there's been more pressure on the Cubs because they've played opponents many (if not most) people expected them to beat. Cub players say they don't think much about the 100 years, but you have to wonder if subconsciously they put too much pressure on themselves to win it for all us longsuffering fans. I believe the Cubs can build off this year's success, but they'd better play it smart in the offseason.

I'm already depressed about the rest of the Playoffs. I know, the White Sox are still in it, but they look like they're about to lose too. If so, it's back to playing Adopt-a-Team. If the White Sox don't advance I'll be hoping for a Rays-Phillies World Series, but with the luck my rooting interests have had lately you might as well put your money on a Red Sox-Dodgers World Series right now. Won't that be exciting? A rematch of 1916!

I hope the Phillies or Brewers beat the tar out of the Dodgers in the NLCS. I'm not looking forward to more hot air about how Joe Torre (hey, did you know he used to manage the Yankees?) is the genius behind the Dodgers' success and how Derek Lowe and Manny Ramirez (hey, did you know they used to play for the Red Sox?) are carrying the team with their play. Just to go on a quick rant, the collective media man-crush on Manny Ramirez disgusts me more and more every year. I'm tired of hearing about "Manny" all the time. Since when are we on a first-name basis with him? No announcer should ever refer to a player by his first name only unless it's a hometown player on a hometown broadcast. Ramirez is a lazy, selfish ballplayer and for some reason they expect us to adore him. Seriously, I don't need to see repeated shots of his ugly mug on the bench for the remainder of the inning every time he hits a home run. The Phillies are my best hope for sanity this postseason, as I don't think the Brewers have the pitching to make it to the World Series.

I'm going to try to put the Cubs' Playoff performance out of my mind now. I just hope the Cubs are smart enough to get a good shortstop and not to overspend on anymore mediocre free agents this offseason. They can't let this happen again next year.

What a season it's been. We saw some great races, some great games and a great one-game playoff. With the final regular-season game in the books and the postseason about to start I have many thoughts on my mind.

The American League leader in home runs? Miguel Cabrera with a grand total of 37. The last time a league leader in home runs had fewer than 40 was 1992, when Fred McGriff led the NL with 35. The last AL leader with fewer than 40? Also McGriff, with 36 in 1989. Home runs totals have been inflated since the steroid era, but once in a while we see a year where they come back down to earth.

Are the Marlins the ultimate spoiler franchise or what? For the second year in a row they've knocked the Mets out of the Playoffs on the last day of the season. They've qualified for only two postseasons in their entire history and won the World Series both times. During those postseasons they beat the Giants in the first round twice (who've been waiting for a World Series title since 1954), the Cubs in the NLCS (who've been waiting since 1908) and the Indians in the World Series (who've been waiting since 1948). They barely have a fanbase, but they remain one of the best-run organizations in baseball and have managed to stay competitive on a small payroll. Does anyone besides me hate them?

Congratulations to the Brewers and Rays. They've become the latest franchises to see their first Playoffs since the advent of the three-division format in 1994. The only franchises that have yet to qualify under the current system are the Blue Jays, Nationals, Pirates and Royals.

Has this been a wild year for the White Sox or what? No one picked them to make a run for the divison title at the beginning of the season. They've gotten surprisingly good years out of John Danks, Gavin Floyd and Carlos Quentin, none of whom looked like anything special as of last year. They've also dealt with a blowup doll controversy, the loss of their best hitter down the stretch, and a three-game sweep near the end of the season that knocked them out of first place. Somehow they've managed to hang tight and finish in first place. I'm proud of this team.

You want Playoff predictions? Here are mine for the Divisional Series:

Cubs over Dodgers. I'm wary of getting too hopeful for my Cubs after the Diamondbacks swiftly crushed their dreams last year, but this year's Cub team is much better than last year's. The Dodgers' pitching staff has great numbers, but they also play in baseball's weakest-hitting division. I don't think the Dodgers will go quietly, but I do think the Cubs are the better team and should ultimately win this series. This is the best Cub team since their last pennant in 1945, so if they can't get past the first round the defeat will be extra heartbreaking for the Wrigley faithful.

Phillies over Brewers. This should be an exciting series featuring two slugging teams, but I'm picking the Phillies to win it because they have the pitching advantage. C.C. Sabathia has been a workhorse for the Brew Crew, but all the pitching on short rest has to be catching up with him. Ben Sheets isn't even on the Playoff roster due to injury. The Phillies have a healthy ace and the game's best closer, so preventing runs won't be as much of a struggle. As a Cub fan I'm hoping the Brewers can pull out a miracle, but I don't think it's likely.

Rays over White Sox. It pains me to say it as a White Sox fan, but I think the Rays will take this series. I've had fun watching the Sox get this far, but the Rays right now look more complete and in better shape to win. I have this odd feeling that the Sox could pull off an upset here, but with no justification for it I'll stick with the Rays as my pick for this series.

Red Sox over Angels. It's no secret that I despise the Red Sox. I don't particularly like the Angels, but I'll certainly be rooting for them in this series, even if it's a losing cause. The Angels have had the AL's best record all year, but they also play in a weak division and outperformed their Pythagorean W-L by a whopping 12 games. The Red Sox also have the Angels beat in other advanced metrics like OPS+ and ERA+, which tells me that Boston should be favored here. If the Angels have some intangible quality that's allowed them to win more than they were supposed to I hope it helps them in this series, because Boston is the only true villain in this year's Playoffs.

I won't try to predict how the subsequent series will play out until I see how many of these I get right. The Playoffs are exhausting to follow when you're a baseball fanatic like me, but it's so worth it.

Dear Cub Nation:

Things sure are looking good right now, aren't they? Our team just clinched its second straight NL Central title, they've had the NL's best record most of the season and for the first time in a long time they're looking like they'll be the favorite to win the NL Pennant once the Playoffs start. It's been exactly 100 years since the Cubs' last World Series title, so it'll be perfect poetry when they end the drought at the century mark, right? The very idea is enough to light up the eyes of any Cub fan, but I have a simple request for all of you: don't get cocky.

Don't get me wrong. I'm hoping as much as anyone that this finally will be the Cubs' year. I've been watching them come up short for some time now, and I've read about the heartbreaking near misses that preceded my fandom. I'm not trying to put a damper on anyone's enthusiasm or trying to suggest that this team is destined for the "What Could Have Been" pile, because I think this current Cub team has the best chance of winning the World Series of any I've ever seen. So why am I writing this letter?

Right now the Cubs are a media darling well-known for their history of not winning the World Series. Because they've developed into a franchise that spends money wisely and contends regularly, fan optimism is quite possibly at an all-time high. We the fans and our team have gotten a lot of attention recently, because the prospect of ending 100 years of misery makes a compelling story. Unfortunately, with it has come a great deal of backlash.

When I was younger I often came across bullies who liked to pick on the Cubs for their losing ways, but most people seemed like they'd be genuinely happy for our team if they won the World Series. While there are still plenty of people in the latter group, the former group has gone from picking on the Cubs to flat out hating them. Many of them now say we're a bunch of whiners who feel entitled because we've waited so long. Others say we want the Cubs to lose, because it's the only thing that makes them special. Many of them propagate the stereotype (often parroted by White Sox fans) that Cub fans are drunks who show up at Wrigley Field just to hang out rather than watch the game. While many (if not most) of us are knowledgeable baseball fans who love the Cubs win or lose, the perception is starting to take on a life of its own.

Do you know what all this reminds me of? The Red Sox' situation four years ago. You remember, don't you?

The Yankees in those days were the perennial favorites in the AL East, and they backed it up every year. In 2003 though, the Red Sox missed the World Series by one game and followed it up with a strong offseason. In 2004 the Red Sox entered the season favored by many prognosticators to win the division. Around that time the movie "Fever Pitch" was made, the whole "Red Sox Nation" thing was gaining national prominence, and it was generally becoming cool to be a Red Sox fan. Times were good for Boston rooters, but the backlash was setting in. You used to hear sympathy for the Red Sox and their fans. Suddenly, you started hearing that Red Sox fans were whiners, that they were more focused on hating the Yankees than loving their own team and that they lived with the assumption that the Red Sox were going to lose in the end. Any of this sound familiar?

Of course, we all know how that season turned out. The Yankees once again claimed the divison title, but the Red Sox won the Wild Card, beat their longtime rivals in the ALCS and put an end to all talk about "The Curse of the Bambino" in the World Series. The Red Sox still had enough underdog appeal back then that most of America was rooting for them along the way, but these days it's a much different story. Most fans now hate the Red Sox as much as they once hated the Yankees, with perhaps an extra tinge of resentment due to the fact that many Red Sox fans seem to think their team's accomplishments now equal the Yankees'. Some hatred is understandable when your team is good, but cocky fan behavior makes it much stronger. Fans like that are an embarrassment to those of us who keep our teams' accomplishments in perspective.

If indeed this is our Cubs' year, let's be classy in victory. We may not have as many titles as the Yankees or even the Red Sox, but one department where we can beat them is graciousness. Believe in our team, but don't take for granted that they'll pull it off. Right now nothing is guaranteed. If the Cubs do win it, let's consider ourselves fortunate that we got to see it. If the Cubs become a dynasty, let's be humbly appreciative. If the Cubs don't win it, let's not whine or make excuses. All we can do as fans is root hard; everything else is up to the team. If they're going to hate our Cubs, let it be because their teams can't beat them. We don't need to give them extra reasons with our behavior.

Sincerely,

Ian
Diehard Cub fan

We Cub diehards know the significance of the name Milt Pappas. Not only was he a pretty good pitcher back in the early 70's, but in 1972 he was the last Cub to pitch a no-hitter. We've heard the story of how he had a perfect game going against the Padres with two outs in the ninth and then walked the next batter on a pitch he felt should've been a strike. Fortunately, he kept his cool long enough to retire the last batter and complete the no-hitter.

That was years before I was born. When I became a fan I hoped I'd see a Cub no-hitter, but it always seemed like they could never pull it off. I saw Frank Castillo come close against the Cardinals in 1995, but Bernard Gilkey broke it up with two outs in the ninth. I recall Sammy Sosa trying to make a diving catch on that hit, but he wasn't even close to getting it. Castillo had to settle for a one-hitter.

As of yesterday, I can finally call myself witness to a Cub no-hitter. Carlos Zambrano pitched a gem against the Astros in Milwaukee, and I followed most of it over MLB Gameday. ESPN was nice enough to broadcast the final inning for those of us who didn't get it on our local TV, so I got to see Darin Erstad swing at a pitch way outside the zone for strike three and the game. In what's been a great Cub season this is a memory that will stay with me forever.

Congratulations Carlos. Let's try to end an even bigger drought this October.