Wild-card heat on
Cubs' 2nd-half pace could keep them in race down to wire
By Dave van Dyck
Special to the Tribune
July 28, 2005, 10:52 PM CDT

When does the postseason race start?

When you are the Cubs, it starts as the sun rises each day.

For them, every game takes on a life-or-death meaning even though it is only the end of July. So Thursday's 6-0 loss to Arizona was one of those prepare-the-casket days for the 39,154 fans at Wrigley Field.

You see, Arizona is a team not far behind the Cubs in the wild-card chase. And the next two series, at Philadelphia and New York, are against teams that are neck-and-neck with the Cubs.

What the Cubs need right now is one of those summertime hot streaks, but when they seem to start one, they come up with a stinker like Thursday's. What they need to do is get hot like Oakland and Houston.

"We're already doing it … but you can only do it one day at a time," manager Dusty Baker said. "We're only three games behind [for the wild card] and we have won three out of four series and split the other one.

"It didn't take us one day to get in this position. It takes a while to rebuild this thing. We're already doing it."


We have to get hot, and now, or this is over. We can't let these series against WC teams slip away. Beating Cincy is great, but that won't get you in the playoffs.