It wouldn't feel real if I didn't also offer up the story from the Trib!
Perhaps the hardest part of being a Cub is having to hear about the team's woeful history from the start of spring training until the end of the season.
Constant reminders of past failures ring in their ears, as though they're doomed to repeat the sins of their predecessors before the first pitch is even thrown.
But Dusty Baker's 2003 Cubs threw the history books out the window, clinching the Central Division title on Saturday with a doubleheader sweep of Pittsburgh while Houston was losing to Milwaukee, setting up a division series showdown with Atlanta.
Kerry Wood will face the Braves' Russ Ortiz in Tuesday night's opener at Turner Field as the Cubs continue their storybook season.
"The first thing Dusty told us this year was you have to respect the history, but it has no bearing on what happens this year," first baseman Eric Karros said. "We've approached the season like that and there's no reason to change that now."
The Cubs won their first division title since 'the Boys of Zimmer' in 1989 and will try to end the 95-year drought since their last World Series title.
I knew I could count on the Trib to keep our joy within Cubbie fan limits; not only do they own the club, they're fans and baseball historians too.
