2008 Season in Review

For the first time in the Cubs history the team did not play in the Pontiac Class ‘A’ league. For the 2008 season the Cubs switched to the St. Clair Shores MABL wood bat league. The two biggest differences in the two leagues were the SCS league is a wood bat league and the SCS league has much better fields. The SCS league also is a 23+ league, meaning a couple of players from the 2007 team were ineligible to play this year. The team did though keep most of it core players.

Evan Dawley and Tom Girodat were behind the plate. Randy Nettles saw time at third and first. Steve Girodat took over full-time at second base and Jon VanSon again was the team’s shortstop. Mike Dawson was limited in the field but did play some third base. In the outfield Jason Rider was again solid in center and Dave Reitman was in right.

On the mound Dave Theriault returned for a few starts with Chris Johnson back in the rotation. Mike Dawson was limited in his mound appearances due to his knee surgery in the off-season.

However, they did lose their top two pitchers from last year. Ryan Drews was out because of injury and Yuki Minigawa was not available due to work and school. Fortunately though, the Cubs were able to add three new starters to the staff. Kris Krstich came over from the Pontiac Red Sox and become the team’s new number one starter. He threw over 64 innings for the Cubs, the second most in team history. Steve Gordon was came on to the team and provided the team with some great starts. Also new to the staff was an old face. Chris Baroli, the Cubs former shortstop, converted to a pitcher and threw some great games for the Cubs. Unfortunately though Baroli had some arm trouble late in the year which limited his effectiveness and availability.

The team also added a couple other newcomers. Matt Cook was a nice addition to the team providing the team with some speed and utility in the field. Cook played five different positions for the Cubs from the corner outfield positions to third and second and catcher. Jimmy Roehm came to the team having not played organized baseball for a number of years; however he was able to pick things back up right away. Roehm was a backup but quickly earned playing time with his bat and his play in the field. Unfortunately, less than half way through the year Roehm separated his shoulder diving back to second and tore his labrum and was out for the year. Also back with the team in a part time role was Jason Westphal. Westphal started the year as a pitcher but arm trouble ended that comeback quickly but he was able to play in the field and hit with some effectiveness in a backup role.

To start the season the Cubs faced off against the Braves, who won the regular season in 2007 and were runners-up for the league championship. The Cubs lost that first game in extra innings and then tied the second game of the season to the Angels. So after two games the Cubs were still winless. Then the Cubs went on a run of 9 straight wins as they started things off with another extra-inning game as they beat the Angels two nights after there tie game. During the nine-game winning streak the Cubs outscored their opponents by a score of 74-11.

Following the winning streak the Cubs hit a rough patch as they went 3-5-1 in their next nine games. In those nine games the Cubs scored 34 runs and allowed 34 runs. Then they were able to straighten things out winning four in a row, outscoring their opponents 26-5, before tie and then a loss and then ended the season winning six in a row, outscoring their opponents 44-5.

In the end the Cubs finished the regular season with a 22-7-3 record, coming in second place behind the Orioles. The Cubs scored a league high 211 runs and gave up 92 runs, second least in the league.

The playoffs though were another story for the Cubs. For the most part during the regular season the Cubs were very solid in all aspects of the game, from hitting to pitching to fielding. However, in the playoffs all aspects fell apart for them. The Cubs were swept in their first round series with the Tigers losing game 1, 5-2, and game 2, 2-1.