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Until Sheps and I recorded today’s episode, it never crossed my mind that the Cubs might actually be able to clinch the division before the final series of the season in Milwaukee. Even thought I usually consider myself an optimist, it just wasn’t something that seemed doable. However, it is doable and the Cubs Magic Number (dare I post it) is only 31 after the Brewers lost yesterday and the Cubs won.

After naming this week’s Thread of the Week on the message board, Sheps brought up the idea of the Cubs having a large enough lead to be able to actually throw games at the end of the season depending on who Lou Piniella and others wanted to face in the first round of the playoffs. I can’t see the Cubs doing that no matter who they preferred to face, but I suppose stranger things have happened.

In the aforementioned Thread of the Week, the topic of when the Cubs will clinch is being discussed in fine form. CubsOptimist is staying true to form and currently has the earliest prediction — September 17.

When do you think the Cubs will clinch, and would you throw a game or two to face a certain team? Let us know in the comments or in the thread on the message board. Also, keep a lookout for the Cubs Magic Number to appear soon on our homepage. I originally decided that September 1st would be a tactful date to post it, but if it’s under 25 by the end of the weekend, it’s going up.

Go Cubs!

Towards the end of last season I took a lot of crap for mentioning (yes, probably too often) how Jacque Jones’ performance in the 2nd half essentially put the Cubs into the playoffs. I think I’ve had enough time to recover from the constant berating from my fellow co-hosts, because there’s nothing I’d like to be talking about more a month and a half from now than Jim Edmonds as he carries this team into the postseason. It could happen.

Similar to Jacque’s situation last season, Edmonds has pretty much forced Piniella’s hand and will be in the lineup against almost every right-handed pitcher down the stretch. He has provided a combination of power and patience that Felix Pie still needs to learn to dream about, let alone put into practice. So by all means, it seems like Jim Edmonds is going to have every opportunity to continue his pace this month and into September. 50 RBIs for the Cubs by the end of the season? It could happen.

If it was bizarre to think about Jim Edmonds helping the Cubs and homering against the St. Louis Cardinals today, just think what it would be to see him taking a curtain call at Wrigley when the ivy is brown. It could happen, and when it does, I’ll be doing the happy fingers cheer.

We’ve frequently been hearing from Cubscast listeners on the subject of our minimum-salaried slugger:

Earlier this summer,I was thinking to myself what Jim Edmonds would have to do for me to stop disliking him. He did that the other day when he hit two home runs including the grand slam. i now can admit that I like Edmonds. — Abe in DC

Fontenot’s hit 2 more home runs and his SLG is up 50 points since my last email. I’m telling you, He’s a mini Edmonds. — Jonathan in AZ

I didn’t like the move at all when it happened. Not because he was a Cardinal, or because I had any thoughts of conspiracy, but because he’s a day older than God’s parents and his BA was worse than most pitchers. I like the fact that he’s fighting for a respectable BA, he seems to be working his tail off to improve, and he’s been clutch of late, but I’m not going to be sold until he does it for an extended period, much longer than a week. If he’s even .275+ by late August, I’ll be satisfied. — Justin in Indiana

I love it when we get e-mails. Not because everyone agrees with our opinions (they assuredly do not), but because every Cubs fan has his or her own theories on players and predictions and superstitions. Justin’s email was sent to us at the beginning on June, and he made the point before the excerpted paragraph that we had been too quick to go from skepticism on the Edmonds signing to “unconditional love.” And fair enough. I’m just glad that it looks like Justin is going to be satisfied by late August. It could happen.

Sheps and I can’t wait to discuss the series sweep at Miller Park in detail on Monday’s episode. If you’re visiting Cubscast for the first time, please check out our latest episodes or you can find us in iTunes. Cubscast is a free podcast on everything Cubs with new episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Anyway…

What a series vs. Milwaukee…the Cubs are now 21 games above .500 for the first time in 2008 and we’re 5 games in front of the Brewers after the 4-game sweep that was completed earlier this afternoon. If you’re looking for a little reading before the next episode debuts, we’d be remiss not to mention something you might say is a bit off-the-beaten I-94 path.  Ed, a friend of Cubscast and frequenter of the Cubscast Message Board, runs a great themed blog called The Cubs in Haiku, which we’ve previously mentioned on the show.

Apparently earlier this week the gauntlet was thrown down by Brew Crew Haiku (we couldn’t make that up), and the haiku has been fast and furious on both sides. We present the following recap haikus following each game:

Monday: Cubs 6, Brewers 4
by Ed

Sabathia who?
Cubs bats hot versus the ace
One down, three to go.

Tuesday: Cubs 7, Brewers 1
by Cubs_Fan_34

Two aces have pitched,
Brewers are down oh and two.
Just too much good stuff!

Wednesday: Cubs 7, Brewers 2
by ArtVanDelay1774

The Cubs romp again.
Feeling bad for the Brew Crew,
Hate them less than Cards.

Thursday: Cubs 11, Brewers 4
by Ed

Oh, how “sweep” it is
Edmonds grand slam clinches it
Harden gets the win

All the hoopla of the sale of the Cubs reached a nexus on today’s episode of Cubscast, when we reported the news that bids by both John Canning and Don Levin were not accepted by the team. What we didn’t know at the time we recorded the episode was that Mark Cuban reportedly bid $1.3 billion, which seems to be far and away the highest bid on the club. It stinks that my hometown favorite Don Levin is seemingly out of contention, but I have to believe that after looking over all the Cubs’ assets and liabilities, $1.3 billion wasn’t even close to the actual current value of the Cubs team, Wrigley Field, and a quarter of Comcast Sportsnet Chicago.

This shouldn’t shock us…we already knew that Mark Cuban really, really wants to own the Cubs. It’s the number on the napkin that he slid over the table that is shocking. This amount is over twice the dollar amount that the Red Sox were purchased for just a few years ago — which I love because there is no way that Red Sox fans (those World Series winning jerks) (kidding) can comprehend why the Chicago Cubs would be worth twice as much as their team. Imagining their confusion is entertaining — those fans are absolutely right to scratch their heads and quizzically ask the rhetorical question — Nomah? Then again, the World’s Greatest Network wasn’t originated in Boston. Thankfully.

Mark Cuban isn’t operating in Nomah dollars (circa 2005) or 2008 dollars, because as I mentioned the Cubs aren’t worth this much now. Cubs fans are worth this much now, though, which is something I think Cuban understands better than most. Come November after a World Series appearance, fans are going to raise the team worth significantly, but what I like about his bid is that it’s clearly a commitment to see the investment through. And this is an investment in Cubs fans as much as the team or a stadium with a manual scoreboard.

The history shows that in 20 years whatever amount the Cubs are purchased at is going to look like a bargain. That is due to constant increases in the number of Cubs fans that spend money. Because the team piped all those day games through WGN to kids (including Cuban) all over the country in the ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s, the goose is going to keep laying the golden egg for another few years or so. As each wave of these fans reaches adulthood, it’s bringing countless millions more in revenue to the Cubs. I’ll be interested to see what happens after the Superstation Generation no longer is growing because of the rise of the very station that Cuban is bidding on.

If he does end of winning this auction for the Cubs, Mark should consider selling his stake in Comcast Sportsnet Chicago and trying to get 100 games a year back on WGN. I guess that’s more of a 2028 concept, though.

The first title of this post was “Glass Half Empty vs. Glass Shattered Against Wall,” but I decided that was a bit too harsh, despite yesterday’s awful Cubs loss to the D’Backs that guaranteed C.O.B.R.A. the series over the Cubs. The Cubs looked beaten on Tuesday after the first chance they had to score instead felt the inside of three infielders’ gloves. Sadly, maybe it’s exactly what we need. We who thought the Cubs had won the division in May. We who still remember how many Cubs All-Stars there were this year. We need to be pummeled by Doug Davis tonight, the latest pitcher that can join a club of growing “shoulda beat ‘em on paper” list.

Rock bottom awaits. For the 2008 Cubs it could be at 15 games over .500. In the words of Joe Mantegna…we can only hope.

I don’t care what happens tonight, which feels nice after being so angry after Monday’s loss and so confused after Tuesday’s meltdown. Rich Harden’s no-hitter plus no walks or hit batsmen (plural of Batman?) would have lasted who-knows-how-long if Mark Wegner (yes, that Mark Wegner) hadn’t taken his payback without having to lift a finger. Not lifting a finger actually was the payback, which made the only thing perfect on Monday the irony.

I’m taking some solace this morning, though, because I’m not the only one going through the ringer. That’s one of my favorite threads on our message board in awhile. It reminds me of the perfect qualities of a Cubs fan: fear, optimism, and hatred of optimism.

In today’s episode we were oddly upbeat despite talking about the 1-4 start to the 2nd half. I can’t explain that any more than I can (accurately) explain the Cubs’ troubles, other than to say that I am loosed by not caring about one game. Okay, if the Cubs win, I will definitely care and will probably run through my house singing the guitar intro to “Where the Streets Have No Name.” But we will see. In the meantime I only want to think about the Cubs playing at Wrigley, where D-Lee has 100x less chance of grounding into a 4-6-3.

UPDATE: Congrats to Brenda, the winner of our eBay auction!

Who hasn’t dreamed of hosting a podcast? A recent study showed that Podcaster ranked 4th overall among dream jobs, right between Professional Athlete and Orange County Based Reality Star D-bag, and there is a reason for this…Podcasting is awesome.

Well now you have a chance to make this once unfathomable dream come true thanks to the Cubscast Fantasy Experience! It’s simple, check out our ebay auction (ends Monday July 21), bid to your heart’s content, and you then you just might win the type of fantasy experience that before now only Menards and the Cubs Ground Crew could offer. And best of all, you won’t have to rake a thing!

The highest bidder in the Cubscast Fantasy Experience auction will win the following:

Co-Hosting Duties on an Upcoming Episode of Cubscast

A Cubscast E-mail Address to Answer Listener Mail and Talk to Your New Fans

The Honor of Picking the Winner of a Cubscast Photo Caption Contest

Your very own Cubscast Homepage Post to share your thoughts on the Cubs, and call out your Enemies

A Cubscast Prize Pack including a T-shirt and an Autographed Picture of Sheps’ Kidney Stone

Sneetch will say “Ah-Geovany!” on your Answering Machine’s Outgoing Message

The Right to Give a Nickname to a Cubs Player of your choice that will then be used on Cubscast for the rest of the Season

Money raised from the auction will not only buy you a weeks worth of podcaster fame and fun, it’ll also help support Cubscast, so bid like you mean it! Auction ends on Monday July 21st at 11:00 a.m.

UPDATE 7/8: Hendry got the message and wasted no time in trading for SP Rich Harden

After recording today’s episode of Cubscast, Sheps, Sneetch and I debated how important homefield advantage was for the World Series this year. Being the wise pessimist that he is, Sheps claimed that there was no way a National League pennant-winning Cubs team would clinch on the road — that it would take at least 6 games.

I just hope his prediction doesn’t refer to home games that ultimately get played at Miller Park.

The Brewers put the league on notice yesterday and today by swinging a deal to get the best pitcher that will be traded during this season, C.C. Sabathia. Don’t tell me his record this season is poor or that he’s having a bad season — he isn’t. Before becoming a Brewer he led the AL in K’s and was 2nd in innings pitched and complete games. Complete games are like 5 for 5 days at the plate. You don’t see it very often at all (the Cubs only had 2 last season), and for me that is the scariest proposition about our rivals landing this guy. He is going to make their bullpen that much more stronger and fresh, and in this division of equally matched teams, I have a hard time predicting that the Brewers won’t overtake the Cubs at some point.

The worst of all would be if the Brewers find a way to resign Sabathia to a long-term deal. It’s unlikely, but so were their decisions to give big payouts to Eric Gagne, Ryan Braun, Jeff Suppan, Mike Cameron, and even Jason Kendall. The Brewers payroll is quickly approaching where the Cubs were a couple seasons before shelling out $300 million after finishing last in ‘06.

This team is for real, and all my previous fantasies of the Cubs taking the division on the final day of August are dashed. Three weeks ago, on June 15th, the Cubs won on getaway day in Toronto, reaching 20 games above .500 for the first time in 2008. That same day the Brewers won, putting them 3 games above .500 but still a full 8 games out of first place.

It looked like the Cubs had the division in hand. Now that we assuredly don’t, let’s hope the Cubs can prove to the rest of the league that our hot start wasn’t a fluke, with or without the services of another starting pitcher.