Eight is Enough

A while back I wrote a post about how the Chicago Cubs always seem to crack under pressure late in the season but this year could be different. Well guess what, this year isn't any different. As of now the Cubs have their backs against the wall in the first round of the playoffs. They lost their first 2 games of a best of 5 series against the Los Angeles Dodgers and are now facing elimination.

By now, almost everybody knows about the Cubs 100 year world series drought, but they are also in another drought. The Cubs have lost 8 straight playoff games dating back to 2003 against the Florida Marlins. Many Chicago fans don't want to be reminded about the 03 playoffs but I'm going to tell you about it anyways because it makes me happy. The Cubs were leading the series by 3 games to 1. Then in game 5 Josh Beckett took the mound for the Marlins and pitched a complete game only giving up 2 hits. The Cubs didn't take the loss to harshly because it took the series back to Chicago where they had a chance to win the pennant in front of their home crowd. In game 6 the Cubs led the Marlins 3-0 going into the eighth inning. But Florida rallied for 8 runs to take a permanent lead of 8-3. The Cubs went on to drop game 7 when the Marlins again rallied from behind to win the game and move on to the World Series. Chicago's postseason woes continued last year when they got swept in the first round by the Arizona Diamondbacks. And of course now they are trailing the Dodgers 0-2 in the first round of this years playoffs.

Can the Cubs manage to pull off a comeback and win 3 in a row. It wouldn't be the first time a team has made that kind of a comeback in the playoffs. In 2004 the Boston Red Sox trailed the Yankees 0-3 in the second round and they went on an eight game tear to win the world series. So can the Cubs do it? Of course they can but I really doubt they'll be able to pull off that miracle.