Cubs say they have what it takes in playoffs

CINCINNATI -- The Cubs insist it wasn't the champagne talking.

Time and time again Friday night, during their bubbly-soaked party to celebrate winning the National League Central, Cubs players delivered this message: Watch out for us in the playoffs.

The Cubs are able to set their pitching rotation for the division series, with Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly and Rich Hill going in Games 1, 2 and 3, respectively.

And they have some hot hitters in Alfonso Soriano, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez.

"We have a lot of guys who have been there, so it's not going to be such a shock to them," said closer Ryan Dempster. "And we're hot at the right time. We're just playing well at the right time."

Third baseman Aramis Ramirez helped lead the Cubs to the division title this year, just as he did in 2003.

"I feel we've got what it takes," Ramirez said. "We've got a very good bullpen. We've got good starting pitching. We've got some guys who can carry a team for a while: D-Lee, myself, Sori. There are a lot of guys in here who can get it done."

Soriano was with the Yankees in 2001, '02 and '03, when they reached the postseason each year and the World Series in '01 and '03. He has 4 postseason homers, but overall, his record in October isn't sparkling.

That doesn't stop Soriano from being optimistic about the Cubs this year.

"It's the same game," he said. "The only problem is that it's a short series. We'll have to play good. I think we have. We have the talent, and we have everything here to win the World Series."

The Cubs' top two starting pitchers, Zambrano and Lilly, both have playoff experience. Zambrano had his ups and downs for the Cubs in 2003. Lilly pitched for Oakland in the 2002 and 2003 American League division series.

"I think we have everything to beat anybody in baseball," said Zambrano, who finished the regular season 18-13 with a 3.95 ERA. "We have good offense. We have defense. We have good pitching. We have Soriano, Lee, Ramirez; we have a tough lineup.

"On the other side, I think we have good relievers. We are a strong team. The only thing we have to do is keep playing like this: Keep playing the small ball and keep playing smart."

With that, the excitable Zambrano sounded positively like the voice of reason when he stopped short of declaring the Cubs the favorites in any series.

"I don't want to think like that," he said. "When you think like that, you're overexcited. We don't want overexcited. We just want to be like normal and do our job and let other teams be the favorite. You can see the through the years some teams that are the favorites and they don't go anywhere. We're just going to have fun and enjoy these playoffs."