Year, schmear

All right, enough. I’m tired of hearing about “the year”. I’m tired of the 99-100-101 years and counting. It doesn’t matter to me whether the Cubs last won a championship in 1908 or 1969 or if they ever won one at all if I wasn’t around to see it. A lot of teams don’t even have a 1908 to point to. So, enough.

I’m willing to say for the record that I think the Cubs are going to win their third consecutive division title. Beyond that is anybody’s guess. Unless Uncle Lou changes his habit of playing the last week of the season like it was the last week of spring training, he should expect the same results. Last year the Cubs opened by losing three of their first four games, and in 2007 it was six of their first nine. This year, even with almost 40 games on the spring schedule, the first time the Opening Day lineup appears together is Opening Day. I don't like that. Spring training is about more than getting your timing down at the plate or stretching your arm out to a whopping five innings.

What worries me? The World Baseball Classic. Most of the guys around the leagues who participated in 2006 weren’t ready when the bell rang. I’m glad Big Z didn’t go, but Ted Lilly isn’t ready and neither is Kosuke Fukudome. At least neither is going to be counted upon every day out of the gate. I’ve been known to make some off-the-wall suggestions, so here’s another – I’d swap Lilly’s and Aaron Heilman’s roles for a couple of weeks and use Fukudome as a defensive replacement until he starts, to use a golf term, to grip it and rip it.

What else? I don’t think Rich Harden is ready either, after giving up nine walks and seven homers in only 13 innings of spring work - reliever David Patton threw more innings than that. And the Cubs could be in a heap of trouble in the power department if Aramis Ramirez misses an extended period of time, though the excess of outfielders provides adequate trade bait.

Apart from guys staying healthy, I don’t have a lot of major concerns. This team is going to win a lot of games, and it’s going to be a fun summer. Go Cubs!