Is this the year the curse ends? Cubs fans sure hope so. Major League Baseball's playoffs have been particularly cruel to the Cubs in recent years. First, the Cubs choked away the NLCS against the Marlins in 2003, thanks in part to the infamous "Bartman Game." Then, in 2004, Cubs fans had to watch as fellow cursed franchise Boston ended its 86-year drought with a world title. It got worse in 2005, when the hated White Sox brought the first World Series title to Chicago in nearly 80 years. And last year, the Cubs' biggest rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, brought home the championship. So the Cubs brought in Lou Piniella in the offseason and spent nearly $300 million on Alfonso Soriano, Ted Lilly, Jason Marquis and others. And while the team struggled through the early part of the season, the Cubs turned it around in early June after a Piniella on-field outburst. Tonight, Chicago travels to Arizona to face the young and elatively unknown Diamondbacks in Game 1 of their National League Division Series. Arizona held off San Diego and Colorado for the NL West title and is back in the playoffs for the first time since 2002. Tonight, the Diamondbacks start right-hander Brandon Webb, the 2006 Cy Young Award winner who went 18-10 with a 3.01 ERA in 34 starts this season and was unbeaten in his final five outings of the season. He is 4-1 career in seven starts against the Cubs with a 2.53 ERA. Webb, whom Cubs second baseman Mark DeRosa calls "one of the best pitchers in the game," also had a 42-inning scoreless streak earlier this season. WagerWeb.com lists Webb and the D'backs as -136 favorites for Game 1.
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