After hot start, Cubs brace for inevitably tough times

CHICAGO, IL — Nearing the 100^th anniversary of their last World Series title, the Chicago Cubs have thus far defied the negative culture that has smothered the franchise for nearly a century by busting out of the gates with a league-high 26 wins, which have the team sitting alone atop the NL Central standings and creating quite the welcome buzz on Chicago’s North Side.

But knowing well that the MLB season is a marathon and not a sprint, veteran manager Lou Piniella has made it a point to quell any complacency within his team.

“It’s a long, long season, and the most important thing is how you finish, not how you start,” Piniella told SSNN after Sunday’s game. “I constantly remind my guys that we are the Cubs, not some franchise that has a rich history of success. We still have to weather the ‘June Swoon,’ for crying out loud. I really don’t think any of these players are prepared for that. But we’ll persevere and come out of the experience a much different – albeit less successful – team than the one we are now.”

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The “June Swoon” moniker originated shortly after the defending champion Cubs began the 1909 season with an incredible 38-5 mark, but proceeded to lose 45 of their next 60 games, including 16 consecutive defeats in the month of June that wiped out a promising season. The historically dubious label has since stuck, as the organization and fans have begrudgingly become accustomed to grueling summers filled with exasperation.

“I’ve never heard of this ‘June Swoon’ thing. I know of the curse »”>Billy Goat Curse and that retard, Steve Bartman, but this is new to me. I guess we all need to start preparing for it,” left fielder Alfonso Soriano said, after going 5-for-5 with two home runs – his sixth and seventh in the past week – Saturday against the Pirates. “I suppose I could scale it back a bit. But, hey, we lost today – that’s at least a step in a familiar direction.”

Teammate Derrek Lee has been in this position before, and therefore does not share Soriano’s unfamiliarity. He has been a part of numerous mid-season slumps since joining the team in 2004, the season after he won a championship as a member of the Florida Marlins.

“It’s uncanny how us tanking during the course of the summer seems to happen like clockwork every season around here. I never should have fucking left Florida,” lamented Lee, who is closing in on the NL leaders with 52 hits this year. “I was hoping that we wouldn’t get off to such a great start like we have – just so we could have avoided all this bullshit. That way, the people of Chicago could have given their hopes up back in Spring Training.”

According to Lee, the worst-case scenario for the Cubs would be a repeat of the team’s 1909 failures. Sadly, Saturday’s inexplicable loss to the cellar-dwelling Pirates seems to be the beginning, even though the calendar still says May. But the Gold Glove first basemen believes his team is prepared for what’s coming.

“It’s like the skipper said – we’ll battle through this rough stretch, lose 75% or so of our next 60 games, and move on. Lou has been here before; I think he might have even played on that 1909 team.”