is this the cubbies year? let's hope

The Cubs will win the World Series for one reason and one reason only:
The combination of another Cubs collapse and the deepening financial crisis would be too much for the country to bear.

Seriously, it's time.

Time to stop talking about billy goats and Bartman.

Time for the Cubs to end their 100-year championship drought because, for once, they actually might have the best team.

Granted, the best team does not always win the World Series. A's general manager Billy Beane famously — and accurately — referred to the postseason as a "crapshoot."

Heaven knows, any number of "Cubbie occurrences" — that's manager Lou Piniella's phrase — still could plague the Cubs.

Imagine:
·Alfonso Soriano hopping on the wrong foot in the outfield and breaking an ankle.
·Carlos Zambrano getting carted off in a straitjacket after refusing to leave the mound.
·Kerry Wood grabbing his elbow while pitching with a one-run lead in Game 7 of the World Series.

You can't make this stuff up, but the Cubs always find a way.

Piniella, though, will have none of it. He arrived before the 2007 season to transform the lovable losers into driven winners, and he's not about to stop now.

A Piniella blowup is all but guaranteed in the postseason. Potential victims include — in no particular order — Zambrano, the Chicago media, Cubs right fielder Kosuke Fukudome and some poor, unsuspecting umpire who offends the skipper's sensibilities.

No more excuses — that's Piniella's message. Frankly, it should be the Cubs' rallying cry. After a century of futility, enough is enough.

This is the year. Promise.

Of course, I'm the guy who, back in spring training, picked the Indians to meet the Braves in the World Series.

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by Ken Rosenthal
Ken Rosenthal has been the senior baseball writer for FOXSports.com since Aug. 2005. He appears weekly on the FSN Baseball Report and MLB on FOX.
Updated: October 1, 2008, 12:02 AM EST