Epstein says he's just going to enjoy Cubs' ride

PITTSBURGH - Aside from worrying about the outcome of the wild-card game, Cubs president Theo Epstein said Wednesday that he would take a moment to appreciate what his team has done this year.

"I'm forcing myself to step back and enjoy it," Epstein said before the Cubs took on the Pirates in the playoff game. "During the game, I'll be tense and wrapped up.

"On the way over here, I walked over with one of the guys I work with. He asked, 'What's going through your mind?' I said, 'You know what? I want to play a game that's representative of our team and how special we feel our players are and the season has been.' More than anything, I'm taking some time to appreciate it, the fact that we're here, and that I'm happy and proud to be here."

Much has been written and discussed about the one-game playoff, especially because it involves the teams with the second-and third-best records in Major League Baseball.

Epstein said he was of a mind to deal with it.

"I'm at peace with it," he said. "Baseball is not supposed to be perfectly fair. There's no way to make the system 100 percent fair to everybody without turning it into one of the other sports that I don't like in the way they run their conference seeding, 1 through 8.

"We knew the rules going in. There's no complaining. If you want to host the best-of-five, then win the division. It's fine. I feel like we deserve a home playoff game, that our players deserve a nice run. We knew the rules going in. We have complaints. If you win, there's nothing to complain about.

"If somebody has a gripe, it's the '93 Giants. They won 103 games and went home. We're fine. We have a chance to play our way into deeper October. That's all you can ever ask for."