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The 1998 Chicago Cubs excited us all, for an array of different reasons
While many Chicago Cubs teams of the past saw fans have a lot of hope during postseason appearances, the 1998 team was remembered for different reasons.
In terms of historical performances, the 1998 Chicago Cubs may boast some of the best in team history. The season itself brought baseball back to life with the great home run race which saw the single-season home run record by Roger Maris fall to several players. Today it is seen very differently as the use of performance-enhancing drugs in that era has come to light, but then it helped bring back fans who were driven away by the 1994 strike.
A major part of the home run race? Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa, who hit 66 home runs, finishing second behind Mark McGwire‘s 70. Sosa, though, would end up winning the National League MVP award as he slashed .308/.377/.647 with a 1.024 OPS and 158 RBI. His performance helped fill Wrigley Field and made the franchise relevant again, those early-mid 90s Cubs teams were bad and boring. We cannot forget Rookie of the Year winner Kerry Wood, who had his famous 20 strikeout game that season on May 6, in just his fifth career start.
While these memories all live in Cubs fans minds over 20 years later, the ones who witnessed that season also saw them make a rare postseason appearance. Their clinching of the NL Wild Card in game 163 was only their third postseason appearance since 1945.
Chicago Cubs: The 1998 Cubs had some good players but some weaknesses.
Outside of Sosa and Wood, there were some other notable names on the squad. Longtime fan-favorite Mark Grace slashed .309/.401/.471 and Henry Rodriguez hit 31 homers. Mickey Morandini and former Cub-killer Jeff Blauser teamed up with veterans Gary Gaetti and Lance Johnson later in the season. As a team they slashed .264/.337/.433 which was right around league average.
On the pitching side, Wood was the brightest spot. No pitcher who made 20 or more starts other than Wood had an ERA below 4.46. The Cubs got 30 starts out of Kevin Tapani, Mark Clark and Steve Trachsel. However, we cannot write about the 1998 team without bringing up Rod “Shooter” Beck‘s 51-save performance that year, which was his career-best. As a team, the pitching staff had a 4.47 ERA and 1.424 WHIP which were both just below league average.
Put this in perspective, roughly 37 percent of the team’s 180 homers year belonged to Sosa. Wood’s 233 strikeouts made up roughly 19 percent of the team’s 1,207. Beck posted a 3.02 ERA which was second-best among qualifying relievers behind Terry Mulholland’s 2.89. Long story short, this team does not get close to the postseason without any of these guys.
Chicago Cubs: Late-season push and a bit of luck pushes them to October
Heading into September the Cubs were 76-62 after playing above .500 baseball all season. Their Wild Card chances looked promising as they won 11 of the first 16 that last month. Epic wins against the Brewers on September 12 and 13 marked the high points of that stretch, with Sosa hitting homers 60-62 during those matchups.
However, a 2-6 stretch to finish their 162 game season looked like their doom (remember the Brant Brown game?) until the San Francisco Giants lost in the final game to the Rockies thanks to a Neifi Perez walk-off homer. Each team was tied 89-73 at the conclusion of the regular season.
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The 1998 Wild Card berth was determined by a winner-take-all game 163 at Wrigley Field on September 28. Michael Jordan threw out the first pitch in front of the 39,556 spectators. Gaetti hit a two-run shot to give the Cubs the early lead and they added on a few more as Steve Trachsel took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Up 5-0 in the ninth, the Giants rallied with three runs, but Rod Beck came in and got Joe Carter to pop out to Mark Grace to clinch it.
On to the NLDS, the Cubs squared off against the 106-win Atlanta Braves, a squad that had Greg Maddux, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine all in their primes. Not to mention a lineup with Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Javy Lopez and Andres Galarraga. The 90-73 Cubs did not stand a chance. Some referred to the NLDS as a “bye round” for the Braves.
A swift three-game sweep ended the 1998 season as the Braves outscored the Cubs by a laughable 15-4 margin. Game 2 was a heartbreaker as a Tapani gem was all for naught when Cubs squandered a 1-0 lead in the ninth and lost in the 10th. Wood gave a good effort in Game 3 at Wrigley but a late grand slam by Eddie Perez put the game away. Despite the loss, the crowd rose to their feet after the final out to applaud the team.
Chicago Cubs: This season will live forever in the memories of many.
The 1998 Chicago Cubs will be remembered for the individual performances more than anything else. It was a blast for those who watched even if the team itself was not World Series-worthy. All this, despite the fact the 90 wins by that team was at the time the third-most by any Cubs team since 1969.
Things kind of “evened out” so to speak in 1999 when they lost 95 games. Losing Wood for the year did them no favors, but the rest of the pitching squad really struggled and other veterans started declining. Many of the breaks they got in 98′ did not come to fruition in 99′. Chicago would not enjoy another winning season until 2001 and a playoff berth until 2003.
Next. Sosa unlikely to ever see Cooperstown. dark
In the end, Cubs fans should always have a special place for the 1998 team. They played hard and had fun. It is a great season to play “on this date” trivia games as so many cool things happened that year.