Is it a sign- Chicagoans?

Whether it’s the Red Sox’s or the Cardinals’, one relatively lengthy World Series title drought is sure to end. This gives up to us in Chicago. And if not, there’s always college football.There comes a singular moment in every season of team sports when one can
say with absolute certainty that only so-and-so or so-and-so will be that
year’s champion.

Except for in college football, where sometimes even after a champion has
been crowned we still don’t agree on who the champion is.

That’s when we fill the computers so full of theorems and logarithms that
all the poor things can do is ooze nonsensical babble back at us, which is
then promptly gathered in Washington and – no translation needed – spoken
verbatim by both candidates every four years in each presidential debate.

The 2004 Major League Baseball season welcomed IT’S magical moment of clarity Thursday at the relatively early hour of about 11 p.m. EDT, at least as postseason baseball is now measured.

It is worth noting at this point that although both teams playing in the
National League Championship Series were from cities very much in the
Central time zone – St. Louis and Houston – documentation of all global
events must and always will be measured in Eastern time. In fact, you’re
actually reading these very words precisely one hour from now.

And by no later than 2 a.m. EST, Nov. 1, at the outside – hopefully hours
sooner – this year’s world champions will undeniably hale from either Boston
or St. Louis.

It brings both peace and at least some comfort, even if you’re a fan of
neither the Red Sox or Cardinals. The field of 30 has been pared to two, and
the end is finally in sight.

No more Tampa Bay Devil Rays or teams formerly known as the Montreal Expos
left to masquerade as clubs even pretending to have a chance, although
mathematics stubbornly insist until at least mid-August that they do.

It is now certain we will have a champion from among two teams: one of which
last won it all in 1982 (the Cardinals) and another all the way back when
the first George Bush was president in 1918 (the Red Sox).

Had the Houston Astros held off the slugging Redbirds, we might have had a
champion who’d never been one before. That last happened just two years ago
when, in their first World Series appearance ever, the Los Angeles, no,
Anaheim, no, California, no, it’s Anaheim again, Angels held off the San
Francisco Giants.

The Arizona Diamondbacks were a first-time champ the year before that, in
just their fourth year of existence.

Arizona wasn’t even a state the last time the Cubs won a World Series (1908)
and is believed to have celebrated its fifth birthday by cheering the White
Sox on to their last title in 1917.

That brings us to the obvious comparisons among the plights of Cubs, White
Sox and Red Sox fans. It is widely known that the only two teams to have
gone longer than Boston since their last world championships both call
Chicago home – not including Republican candidates for Cook County Board.

What’s not as widely discussed is that among MLB’s 30 teams, few others are
even close to those three title droughts long enough to make sand taste
quenching.

Thankfully, there are eight teams that we in both Chicago and Boston can
look down our collective celebration-challenged noses at.

In addition to those Astros, Devil Rays and Expos, the Milwaukee Brewers,
Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers and Colorado Rockies have
never tasted champagne in late-October. In that group, only the Brewers
(1982) and Padres (1984 and 1998) have even reached the Fall Classic.

Among the teams who have actually won one, the Cleveland Indians are the
next longest suffering, going way back to 1948 for their last crown.
Followed closely by the Giants, who reach not only to 1954, but also across
the entire continent to when they called New York home.

Beyond the heart-ripped-out-of-your-chest pain felt in Chicago, Boston,
Cleveland and San Francisco, everything else is just a tummy ache.

No single team must look to the ’60s for their last title. Only one can say
so of the ’70s, and barely – the 1979 Pittsburgh ‘We Are Family’ Pirates.
Then was the Phillies’ last in 1980.

And do you know who comes after that? Do you know who’s just the
eighth-longest suffering team since its last world championship? None other
than those very St. Louis Cardinals all the way back in 1982 – before Steve
Bartman’s Walk-Man was cool.

And since then …

So-called “small-market” teams don’t have a chance, we’re told? We give you
the Kansas City Royals (1985), Minnesota Twins (1987, 1991) and Oakland
Athletics (1989).

Expansion franchises? Those 2001 Diamondbacks and the Florida Marlins (1997,
2003).

Such diverse political figures as the late Marge Schott, Ted Turner and
Mickey Mouse all hoisted trophies in a span of a mere 12 years with the 1990
Cincinnati Reds, 1995 Atlanta Braves and 2002 Angels, respectively.

Baseball’s financial structure lacks parity?

In addition to those mentioned above, four titles for the Yankees, two for
the Toronto Blue Jays, and one each for the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York
Mets, Detroit Tigers and Baltimore Orioles since the Cardinals won their
last in 1982.

Now St. Louis has a 50-50 shot at doing it again. That’s a veritable repeat
by our standards.

So as you’re wrestling with who to root for in this 100th World Series – yet
another lacking a team from Chicago – rest assured, lengthy dry spells do
end.

The Cubs and White Sox do have hope for a championship.

The computers say they’ll play one another Jan. 4 in the Orange Bowl.