Are the Cubs more relaxed?

You’ve all read a number of articles over the last few days about how the Cubs are more relaxed because Milton Bradley is gone. You’ve seen every idiot saying the Cubs are 6-1 since Bradley was suspended (now 6-2 after the loss today). What I think is interesting is that nobody has once suggested that the reason the team may be more relaxed is because they are out of contention. They are not playing for anything right now other than to have fun. There’s a big difference between playing to win and playing to have fun. Furthermore, I haven’t seen anybody stop to think about whether or not a 4, 5 or 7 game sample is even something that people should be quoting every single day. This actually bothers me because I’d like to think that most baseball fans understand that teams have stretches where they play really well and stretches where they play poorly. I think every baseball fan does understand this, but the first chance they get to ignore it they jump at. I also haven’t seen anyone consider whether or not the 2009 Cubs have had other such stretches. This is also troublesome because if dumbasses are going to consider such a small sample then they must also look back at previous small samples to see if there is any value to what is happening right now. That would require a Cubs fan to actually think and we know that the majority of them are incapable of such things. The Cubs have won 6 of 8. Twice this season the Cubs won 5 games in a row when Bradley was on the team. When the team was 5-1 over that 6-game stretch did anyone read about how relaxed the team was playing? Of course not. Right now the team is 6-2 without Bradley. In late July they won 9 of 11 games so they were actually better then. They also won 6 of 7 around that same time. They won 13 of 17 around then as well. I don’t know why I would expect a Cubs fan or a beat writer to look this information up. It’s difficult to find. It took me about 37 seconds and that’s just not time that these people are willing to spend. They’d rather save the 37 seconds and say additional stupid things. The Cubs being more relaxed is laughable. Of course they are. Maybe it has a bit to do with Bradley, but mostly it’s because they’re D-O-N-E. I bet that 2006 team was super relaxed at the end of the season. Maybe we should put that team back together.