With all the kids who have come up from the minor leagues (Alcantara, Baez, Hendricks and Soler especially) and guys like Arrietta really stepping up, it's fun again. Hell, even guys like Wada have stepped up and helped the team look legitimate again. Once Bryant and Russell are added along with a free agent pitcher or two, it's going to be even better. Being a Cubs fan is going to be a lot more enjoyable for a long time to come. Plus, the new ballpark (call a spade a spade. When you totally reconstruct the building, it's a new ballpark) is going to be awesome. IT'S ALL GOOD!!!

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Go Cubs!!!!

Totally agree. I was always one of those that thought projecting our super-prospect lineups was a waste of time, but that may be a reality.

Definitely. They've been playing great ball. There are 22 remaining games after today's game and it's pretty brutal:

Pirates - 6
Jays - 3
Reds - 3
Dodgers - 4
Cardinals - 3
Brewers - 3

I'd like to see them go 12-11 and get to 75 wins. But it'll be tough.

Im enjoying the games more recently

You told me in no uncertain terms after a 100 loss season that you enjoyed the season and that you would get no greater satisfaction from a 72 win team than a 62 win team.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

isn't it at least a bit ironic that cubs fans would only enjoy the team when they're winning?

take it from someone who was raised a cubs fan but became an expos fan when he got into baseball (thank you vladimir guerrero), you lot are going about this all wrong (like ~110years isn't a sign from god or something). obviously the team is going to be more fun to watch when they're young and promising, but this whole proclamation/inference that baseball is only worth watching while a team is winning = jesus christ man this is why your team is what it is.

i mean, some of my best formative baseball experiences were hanging out at 90s cubs games with my uncle having him tell me about the cubs "bermuda triangle" of blauser orie and servais in the lineup. at least you have a team. all i've got is fantasy teams and while the years where i rattle off wins in 7/8 leagues are obviously special, they wouldn't be that way without the previous ~8 years with ~2 wins and next 2 years of winning only one league out of ~10, but TL;DR on that i suppose.

baseball is a lifestyle... it's a self-contained universe of a traveling sideshow that we can thank god exists because for half of the damn year it just goes on and on and on and on, and if you get caught up in winning and losing you're bound to end up a miserable Caller Bob, which defeats the purpose of getting into baseball in the first place.

so yeah i get where steve is coming from here, but to make a whole thread to declare that baseball is officially fun again because the cubs are about to get good? goddamn dude you're a fan of winning, not of baseball.

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I want to know what Vizcaino has. He breezed through A & AA and had ran into trouble in AAA. If he's for real then the Cubs can add another to the 7-8-9 troika of fireballers with Strop/Ramirez/Rondon. Grimm and Schlitter have been decent arms with a sprinkled in here and there.

With this nice pen turning ballgames into 6 inning affairs I think we're looking at a NL Central contender next year.

So I assume if as a young man you lost your girlfriend / wife you would never have sex again with a living woman...and stick to porn on your computer?
Pick the Sox or the Marlins or anybody but to come off with that advice you sound like a crazy person who's working on his manifesto in Montana or Montreal

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Kenny Williams fell for the banana in the tailpipe

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Yes,it is fun. A guy who never gets mentioned but has done a nice job is Coughlin in LF. He had a horrendous start to the season but has rebounded nicely. He sprays the balls to all parts of the park and has been pretty dependable. With Alcantara and Soler,that's not a bad starting 3 going into 2015.
My hat is off to Theo in all the pitchers he has acquired. Some pretty good arms in that group. With hopefully Bryant coming up next April,the Cubs adding a few more vets to back up the youngsters and a FA SP or two and they could challenge next season. Somebody better get to Baez and interest him in trying to hit some singles and bunting for hits,too. It seems like he has 2 strikes on him before you blink an eye every at bat.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

That OF would be vying for worst three in MLB when the season started. That's not even a trollish thought on my part. Seriously, that OF will be a sign of another season of losing.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Alcantara can't throw but the other 2 guys seem ok defensively.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

I consider it a vast improvement from the opening day lineup of Lake/Bonifacio/Schierholtz.

Not even close to the worst in MLB.

Also you're assuming no progression from Alcantara and Soler

That is why I wrote "when the season started"

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.