Loyola Sports Talk Feature - The Cubs Hope Still Has Hope

Where were you on the afternoon of May 6, 1998? Don’t remember? That’s OK, personally, neither do I. While for you and I and most people that date doesn’t stick out more than any other, I guarantee you that’s not the case for baseball fans on the North Side of Chicago. That afternoon probably seemed very ordinary for the 38,000 plus that filled Wrigley Field for what they thought would be another weekday matinee. However, when the masses left the friendly confines they did so with a sense of hope they had never felt before in their lives. That afternoon Kerry Wood, then a rookie, used his 98 mph fastball, devastating changeup, and wicked breaking ball to strike out 20 Houston Astro batters.

The Major League Baseball Playoffs commence this afternoon and only 8 teams are left to vie for the opportunity to accept the Commissioner’s Trophy as World Series Champions. The Chicago Cubs have not quenched the sweet taste of victory champagne at the end of a season since 1907 – an astounding 101 seasons ago. The Cubs have been the National League’s best team from Day 1 and will look to continue their success when they start their NLDS against the Dodgers this evening.

The Cubs history has been cursed with a myriad of disappointments and curses – 100 loss seasons, the Course of the Billy Goat, and most recently the Bartman incident. They have entered postseasons with the NL’s best record and fielded many teams with great players – Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, Ryne Sandberg to name a few. However, none of Cubs teams could get the job done.

Kerry Wood’s career has been emblematic of the ups and downs of Cubs fans’ emotions over the years. Wood seemed destined for Cooperstown in the same mold as fellow Texas fireballer Roger Clemens, and when he teamed with fellow hotshot prospect Mark Prior Cubs mania had never been at a higher level. But plans for Cy Young’s and championships have been derailed by injury after injury and it has left the Cubbies as desperate as ever and Wood a reliever.

Wood’s story is more than 10 years in the making and unfortunately has resembled a rollercoaster more than a fairytale – but there is still hope. Wood finished this season with 34 saves as the Cubs stopper and as runner up for National League Comeback Player of the Year. The pinnacle of his career took place his rookie season in that 20-strikeout game. Here’s hoping that he can replace that with something even more special – fulfilling the hope and promise he gave Cubs fans by closing out a World Series Championship. Funny, both moments could happen on the exact same spot, a place which Wood has seen the most thrilling highs of highs and the most saddening lowest of lows… the pitcher’s mound at Wrigley Field.