The Cubs play a Playoff game tonight!

Game 1 of the NLDS took a lot of wind out of the sails of Cubs fans. The brief excitement provided by Michael Busch’s leadoff home run was quickly extinguished by the brutal bottom of the first inning. Immediately, Craig Counsell was excoriated for starting Matthew Boyd on short rest. And our thoughts were haunted as to whether the outcome would have been the same if Nico could have made that relatively easy play. For me, a feeling of disbelief was follow by sheer numbness.

But today is a new day. Game 1 was only 1 game, and the series is far from over. And best of all, the Cubs are still in the playoffs. After so many years of disappointment – especially the last 2 seasons, when the playoffs were a very realistic expectation – being able to watch the team in a playoff game is a great reward following a long season.

The are some sports fans that are not able to handle the emotional journey of a team getting close to winning but falling short. I have several friends in Minnesota (typically Vikings fans) that have said they’d rather the team not get close to a championship if it means heartbreak. The Vikings might be a unique case, as they’ve had lots of heartbreak in the NFC championship.

But I’ve always argued that I’d rather see the team I root for make it to the precipice of success, and then fail, even if they fail miserably. While this can lead to greater sadness than if a team simply stinks, I just hating being apathetic. I checked out on the team early in the seasons during the rebuild of 2011-2014, as it was just bad baseball, with no possibility of the postseason. I’d much rather have the gut punches on 1984 or 2003, or the playoff collapses in the 2015 NLCS or the first rounds of 2007 and 2008.

Obviously, I’m hoping the Cubs come out strong tonight, and tie up the series. But if they do lose, I’ll still be happy that the series is not over, and I’ll get to see at least one more playoff game.

I was hopeful that Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer would be able to build a team with sustainable success, and would not require going through another rebuild – but obviously that did not happen. Bad decisions, bad luck and several other factors led to the 4-year playoff absence – and no playoff wins since 2017.

You never know when the chance to root for your favorite team in a playoff game will come around again, so you have to try to enjoy it.