Beating the Bad Teams

In my last post, I promised to share a ridiculous idea I have for improving the Cubs. However, I'm not ready to share it yet. It's not that the idea isn't fleshed out. I'm just not ready for the ridicule that will surely follow my sharing of this idea. Maybe soon...

Instead, I want to talk about the Cubs penchant for playing poorly against clearly inferior teams. This has been going on for a few years. In fact, I just had the thought that this penchant may coincide with Dusty Baker's tenure, but to be honest, I'm not sure.

Anyway, for the past few years the Cubs have had a difficult time beating some of the worst teams in the NL. For instance, they have played poorly in recent years against the Expos, Brewers, Pirates, Reds and Rockies. Some of these teams are improved, but I'm talking about when they were really bad.

If the Cubs are going to be a legit contender this year, they are going to have to beat these types of teams. Unfortunately, after losing two out of three this week to the hapless Reds, it looks like history may be repeating itself.

Tony LaRussa has a philosophy that he uses to approach each series. He doesn't expect to win every game. In fact, he knows that no matter how good his team might be, they're still going to loss a good pecrcentage of their games. Instead, LaRussa sets out to simply win each series. For instance, in a three game series, LaRussa sets out to win two games. He's not opposed to sweeping the series. He just doesn't expect it. Think what you will about Tony LaRussa, but it seems to me that this philosophy has served him pretty well over the years.

Now it's on to Pittsburgh. Let's win two out of three.