R.I.P. 2011 Chicago Cubs

After a protracted illness lasting the entire 2011 season, the Cubs were mathematically eliminated from postseason play on Tuesday night.  Elimination occurred at home, where the Cubs were surrounded by a few thousand of their closest friends.  The Cubs were preceded in elimination by the Houston Astros, and are survived by every other team in the National League.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Please Hire a General Manager Who Knows How to Build a Productive Farm System Fund.

Your 2011 Chicago Cubs Early-Mid-Season Review

So why do a Cubs mid-season review now, when the 2011 season isn't half-over yet? Well, we're 1/3 of the way through the season, the team hasn't played even up to my lowered pre-season expectations, and with all of the injuries and bad baseball I'm not sure if I'll still be paying attention to this team when they do reach the halfway point. Through 54 games, the Cubs are sporting a 23-31 record, good for the fourth-worst record in all of baseball, and they just finished a 3-6 homestand against three sub-.500 teams (Mets, Pirates, and Astros) with a flourish, getting swept by Houston, the team with the worst record in the NL. The Cubs have come by their record honestly, too - with a run differential of minus-45 (only two teams in baseball are worse right now), their expected won-loss record is 22-32. So if anything, they're lucky they aren't even worse.

The 2011 Chicago Cubs - Now With Even More Injuries!

The Cubs began the 2011 season with a full complement of healthy starters, unlike the Cardinals (sans Adam Wainwright), the Brewers (sans Zack Greinke) and the Reds (sans Johnny Cueto). Well, that advantage over our division rivals lasted all of about a week, with Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner each going on the 15-day disabled list after making only one start. I hear you saying, "fifteen days, that's not so bad. We're still in good shape, right?"

Wrong! Now comes word that Wells will be out 3 1/2 to 4 weeks, and Cashner will be out up to 6 weeks. And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse than throwing away a game against the Astros by having LOOGY James Russell make an emergency start, you see that the Cubs are looking at veteran washouts Doug Davis (career WHIP 1.50) and Ramon Ortiz (career ERA 4.93) as rotation filler to potentially throw away lots of games until Wells and Cashner return. It's almost enough to make you wish Carlos Silva were still around. But he's no longer on the market, having signed a minor league deal with the Yankees, where he's probably laughing his big fat...contract off at the Cubs right now.