Cubs should win Central, but always watch out for Cardinals

Seventeenth in a series

Editor's note: As the countdown continues toward the April 6 opener for the Cubs, Daily Herald Sports Writer Bruce Miles offers his analysis of each position on the team and the key issues facing the club this season.

Q. Which team in the Central Division should worry the Cubs the most and why?

Miles: The Cardinals. Always the Cardinals.

Jim Hendry has gone around all winter trying not to say anything to honk off Tony La Russa or his boys down in St. Louis.

The Reds look to be improved, and the Brewers will be decent despite the losses of CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets.

Q. How big of a concern is it that the Cubs are projected to absolutely cruise to a division title?

Miles: It can be a concern, and it's going to be up to Lou Piniella to make sure that attitude doesn't set in.

I can picture Lou after a three-game losing streak in May going off about how people are "counting their chickens," just as he did last September before the Cubs clinched.

Q. Break down the way you see the division race going.

Miles: I see the Cubs winning it, and possibly winning it handily again. To quote the cliché, though, they have to play the games first.

I see the Cardinals second, followed by the Brewers, Reds, Astros and Pirates, who remain without hope.

Q. What do you think Lou and the Cubs learned from winning the division so easily last season?

Miles: It seems to me they learned that they want to do it again. Now, how things have turned out in the past, any sports team would rather win its regular-season division or league early so that it can rest and prepare for the playoffs. What happens after that is subject to so many factors.

If the Cubs are in that position again, I'm sure Lou will try to find a better way of striking the balance among being rested, being sharp and fielding competitive teams if they're playing contenders at the end.

Q. The 100-year talk is no longer front and center. Do you think the pressure of that toyed with the Cubs' minds last season?

Miles: Yes. Lou made a point of talking about it at the start of spring training.

As the Cubs neared clinching, he was adamant in getting out front and saying that "this team stands on its own merit" despite what happens in the playoffs and that it wouldn't be fair to consider the season a failure if the Cubs lost in October. So right there, it seemed it was playing on people's minds.

Maybe he needs to follow his own advice and "just let 'em play." There were no predictions from players this spring, so maybe 101 doesn't carry the symbolic weight of 100.

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