The Best Team in Baseball?

In case you've been under a rock for the last few months, and you haven't noticed, the Cubs are baseball's best team. At this point they are just a fraction better than the Red Sox, but until they are passed they are officially baseball's best team. Honestly, I'm still unsure on how to feel about this Cubs team. The first two months were exciting and fun, and I was just enjoying winning. In April and May you can dominate, and the games still have that feeling of unimportance really. I think G made a comment recently stating that the season doesn't really begin until June, and I think he's right. I didn't start to feel nervous until recently, now I have to admit every day is a bit of a struggle. Especially considering the Fonz's (Alfonso Soriano) injury at the start of the month, and most recently with the Zambrano injury and the debacle in Tampa. When you're a fan of any team in baseball that isn't the Yankees, you are constantly distraught with fear about when things will begin to go wrong with your team. That is part of the beauty of the sport being so long I guess, that feeling of uncertainty and the roller coaster from April to October. This season is already a special one, because there haven't really been any in my life when the Cubs were so good.

And this team is really that good. I don't like to toot our own horn, but the balance in this lineup is deadly. All jokes and curses aside, I really believe this to be the best lineup in the National League. I'm sure there are a lot of Philly fans who would like to argue that, but again I just feel the Cubs have a little more balance in the lineup, as well as a lot less striking out (we're looking in your direction Mr. Howard). As far as pitching is concerned, this is where I feel the season will most likely catch up to the Cubbies. Zambrano's struggling to keep up with his early season pace, and in all honesty does anybody believe that Ryan Dempster and Ted Lilly will be pitching like this in October? The team is set in the bullpen, honestly there are no concerns there because they have the best setup man in the game in Carlos Marmol, and Kerry Wood is doing a solid job in that closer role. Still, if this team really wants to talk about competing for a World Series they need a serious 2nd starter to follow Zambrano.

So for now, the Cubs are the best team in baseball, and I'm going to try and enjoy that. It isn't easy, it's actually downright stress-inducing, but I will make the best out of it. I'm starting to think that maybe I like that underdog role a little more, maybe it's better to be in 2nd place and make a run at first. See when you are fighting to catch up to a first place team, you have nothing to lose. When you are trying to maintain that wire-to-wire dominance, it really takes a toll mentally. Did you ever think you'd read about someone complaining about first place? I'd say that it has something to do with being a Cubs fan, but I think it's all fans in general that have to deal with this. It just happens to be with Cubs fans, that we KNOW we won't be successful.