With the Cubs continuing to negotiate the bounty the Red Sox will receive for Theo Esptein, I find myself watching the World Series and thinking that maybe Ryan Theriot was right this spring when he said that he was finally on the right side of the Cardinals/Cubs rivalry.
While the Cubs are in the process of giving away prospects for a new team President (as well as their new GM), the Cardinals are playing in their third World Series in the last 10 years. Including this year, the Cardinals have appeared in 10 World Series since the Cubs' last appearance in 1945.
Which leads to the obvious question: what do they have that we don't have?
Its not money. The Cubs have shown over the last several years that they can certainly outspend the Cards (but they don't always spend it wisely).
Its not fan support. Both the Cubs and Cardinals regularly pull in over 3 million fans each year.
So why do the Cardinals seem to always compete for the Central title and are always a threat to make it to the World Series?
It comes down to decision making. For years, the Cubs were run by owners who were more concerned with the bottom line than putting a quality product on the field. They didn't care if the Cubs made the playoffs, as long as there were fannies in the seats drinking beer.
Wrigley Field was their calling card, not the Cubs and they marketed it well.
It wasn't until the business men who ran the Cubs decided that it was time to sell the team, that they decided to try to put a winning team on the field to make the Cubs more attractive to potential buyers. Of course, look where that got them. A bunch of bloated contracts for players who skills have long since deteriorated.
Now we look to Epstein, the curse killer, to be our savior and lead us to the promised land.
The good thing is that we finally have a baseball man making the key decisions that affect the club. The bad thing is that he's got quite a mess to clean up.
Original Story:
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October 28, 2011
