As the World Series gets going, the big story in the rest of baseball is what’s going to happen with Theo Epstein and the Cubs. The Red Sox apparently want some things, and the Cubs are going to have to cough some prospects up. Maybe they’re close to getting it done, any maybe they’re not. But it has to get done at this point.
So when it gets finalized, and the press conference is conducted, the real work of building a championship team can commence. We’ve already waited so damn long, and some longtime fans won’t live to see the championship finally happen. But Theo Epstein, and whoever else he brings to Chicago with him, isn’t being brought here for any other reason. He knows it, we know it, and anyone with even a passing familiarity with baseball knows it too.
On the World Series pregame show tonight, they did a piece about Albert Pujols and what he means to St. Louis and what happens if he leaves after the season is over. And AJ Pierzynski decided that Paul Konerko was in a similar situation in 2005, after the White Sox did that thing they did. I’m not going to put it into words, but you know what it was. I found myself inventing a new phrase, which can be shortened to STFUAJ. But at least he has an experience like that to talk about. And ex-Cub Eric Karros steered him away to another topic, thankfully.
We Cubs fans have nothing to say, to anyone, when it comes to the World Series. It’s been that way for as long as anyone who isn’t in their 70s can remember. And it will be up to Theo Epstein to find some way to end this.
Blue Batting Helmet 