Going into the last weekend of the baseball season, the Yankees and Red Sox are fighting it out for the AL East at Fenway, and the White Sox are trying to fend off the charging Indians in the AL Central division. What’s more dramatic than the two biggest rivals in sports playing down to the final weekend for the pennant. Actually, being a Cubs fan beats them all.

This was supposed to be the year…again. Last spring, the Cubs were the promising bandwagon pick, with all the talent in the world. The team even showed that promise in their first game, scoring a franchise record 16 runs on opening day against Arizona. Following that game, they set the tone for the year by losing three straight. The season was effectively ended on April 21 when Nomar Garciaparra tore his groin running out of the batter’s box.

The record may have shown 8-8 for the Cubs after that, but we all knew the baseball gods weren’t having it. I maintained hope though, like the rest of the Cubs faithful, since the team hung around .500 without Nomar, Prior, Wood or a bullpen.

Derrek Lee was the only bright spot this year. For a few weeks this summer, I made a promise to myself not to watch. I couldn’t stay away though, when I’d flip past the game and see D-Lee at the plate I had to sit and watch. That one at bat would usually turn into a couple innings, or until Corey Patterson’s next at bat. If a pitcher throws Patterson a high fastball, he might as well turn around and head back to the dugout, because he has no chance. Manager Dusty Baker finally realized that a few months into the season, and Jerry Hairston Jr. took over CF. So what did Dusty do? He gave Patterson his job back. It took Baker two months to realize what every Cubs fan knew, that Patterson was a lost cause, finally demoting him to AAA in July. As much as I dislike Patterson, I can’t give him all the blame, since Dusty never made it clear to him that he’s not a homerun hitter.

The front office finally stepped up when they called up LF Matt Murton from AA West Tennessee, who was one of my favorite players in the organization. He played well early, and then had a 4 for 5 day against Cincinnati on July 18. So on July 19, Murton was benched for Todd Hollandsworth. Young players can’t make an impact if there’s a washed-up old man playing due to pitcher matchups. Again a great job by Dusty Baker.

As the calendar turned to August, I held out hope still, as the Cubs stayed within five games of Houston in the Wild Card. Kerry Wood, Scott Williamson and Nomar came back on August 5 and promptly lost eight-of-eleven games. That’s when it was really over, even for optimists like me.

Next year is the year though; it has to be. And this only hurts so badly because they’re so talented, and have been for the past two years. The pitching staff is maturing, with Carlos Zambrano making himself an elite pitcher this year and Prior playing well. Lee is one of the most feared hitters in the league, Ramirez is a 40-homerun guy, and Felix Pie is a great prospect that should be coming up from the minors. The Cubs have the most talent in the NL Central, and Dusty Baker is supposedly a top-tier manager, but we haven’t seen that yet. If Dusty can’t at least get this team deep into the playoffs next year, he shouldn’t be allowed to coach tee ball.

My screaming at the television, going to see the Cubs AA team play 40 minutes away, and reading every story online story about my Cubbies, and wearing my blue Believe wristband is over. I’m not going to let them hurt me anymore, at least this year.