Greetings from the baseball center of the Universe! The Cubs are in first place in the NL Central with the best record in baseball, the White Sox are in first in the AL Central, and at least one Chicago paper -- reflecting frequent bar, restaurant, and on-the-street chatter -- is already writing about an all-Chicago World Series.
And there might be something to at least half of that, according to an article in June SmartMoney that draws correlations between the stock market and the success of the Cubs. The article points out that in 1907, with the U.S. financial markets facing disaster, the Cubs won the World Series, and they won it again in 1908. Following the Asian financial crisis of 1997 the Cubs made the 1998 playoffs, and when hedge funds tumbled last year the Cubs won their division (okay, so they got swept soon after by the Arizona Diamondbacks, but they got there).
A spokesperson for the Cubs terms all this "an interesting coincidence," but doesn't put much stock in it. But what Cub fan wouldn't be willing to weather a tough stock market for just a few more months if that would carry the Cubs to the Series?
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