2008 Chicago Cubs season

2008 Chicago Cubs
NL Central Champions

Cubs Win Flag flies over the scoreboard at Wrigley Field shortly after the Cubs clinched the NL Central on September 20, 2008.
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Tribune Company
General manager(s) Jim Hendry
Manager(s) Lou Piniella
Local television CSN Chicago
WGN America
WGN-TV
CSN Chicago Plus (CLTV)
WCIU-TV
(Len Kasper, Bob Brenly, Cory Provus)
Local radio WGN (AM) 720
(Pat Hughes, Ron Santo, Cory Provus)
Stats ESPN.com
BB-reference
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The 2008 Chicago Cubs season was the 137th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 133rd in the National League and the 93rd at Wrigley Field. The season began at home on March 31 against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cubs were champions of the National League Central Division for the second year in a row, accumulating 97 regular season wins—the most since 1945. It was the first time since 1908 that the Cubs made postseason appearances in consecutive seasons.[1]

At the All-Star break in July, the Cubs led the NL Central and were tied with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for the best record in the major leagues.[2] They tied a National League record with eight players selected to the All-Star team.[3]

On September 20, the Cubs clinched the NL Central championship with a 5–4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.[4] Despite their regular season success, the team did not advance past the first round of the playoffs; they were swept 3–0 by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series.

Lou Piniella, in his second year as the Cubs' manager, won the National League's Manager of the Year Award in 2008. In addition, catcher Geovany Soto won the 2008 National League Rookie of the Year Award.[1]

Regular season

Game log

2008 Game Log (97–64)
Legend:           = Win           = Loss           = Postponement/Cancellation
Bold = Cubs team member

Season standings

With the magic number at 1, fans had their "Cubs Win" flags flying in Chicago.
The Cubs and fans celebrate the 2008 National League Central Division championship. A few Cubs Win flags are visible.

National League Central

NL Central W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago Cubs 97 64 0.602 55–26 42–38
Milwaukee Brewers 90 72 0.556 49–32 41–40
Houston Astros 86 75 0.534 11 47–33 39–42
St. Louis Cardinals 86 76 0.531 11½ 46–35 40–41
Cincinnati Reds 74 88 0.457 23½ 43–38 31–50
Pittsburgh Pirates 67 95 0.414 30½ 39–42 28–53

Record vs. opponents

2008 National League Records

Source:
Team ARI ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LAD MIL NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL WSH AL
Arizona 3–5 2–4 2–4 15–3 2–7 4–2 8–10 2–5 3–3 3–4 4–3 10–8 11–7 3–4 4–2 6–9
Atlanta 5–3 0–6 3–3 4–3 10–8 3–3 4–2 3–6 11–7 4–14 2–5 5–1 2–5 2–5 6–12 8–7
Chicago 4–2 6–0 8–7 5–1 4–3 8–9 5–2 9–7 4–2 3–4 14–4 5–2 4–3 9–6 3–3 6–9
Cincinnati 4–2 3–3 7–8 1–5 6–2 3–12 1–7 10–8 3–4 3–5 6–9 4–3 5–1 5–10 4–3 9–6
Colorado 3–15 3–4 1–5 5–1 5–3 3–3 8–10 4–3 3–6 0–5 5–2 9–9 11–7 3–4 4–3 7–8
Florida 7–2 8–10 3–4 2–6 3–5 4–2 3–4 5–1 8–10 10–8 3–2 4–2 3–3 2–5 14–3 5–10
Houston 2–4 3–3 9–8 12–3 3–3 2–4 4–3 7–8 5–2 3–4 8–8 3–3 7–1 7–8 4–2 7–11
Los Angeles 10–8 2–4 2–5 7–1 10–8 4–3 3–4 4–2 3–4 4–4 5–2 11–7 9–9 2–4 3–3 5–10
Milwaukee 5–2 6–3 7–9 8–10 3–4 1–5 8–7 2–4 2–4 1–5 14–1 4–3 6–0 10–5 6–2 7–8
New York 3–3 7–11 2–4 4–3 6–3 10–8 2–5 4–3 4–2 11–7 4–3 2–5 5–1 4–3 12–6 9–6
Philadelphia 4–3 14–4 4–3 5–3 5–0 8–10 4–3 4–4 5–1 7–11 4–2 4–2 3–3 5–4 12–6 4–11
Pittsburgh 3–4 5–2 4–14 9–6 2–5 2–3 8–8 2–5 1–14 3–4 2–4 3–4 4–2 10–7 3–4 6–9
San Diego 8–10 1–5 2–5 3–4 9–9 2–4 3–3 7–11 3–4 5–2 2–4 4–3 5–13 1–6 5–1 3–15
San Francisco 7–11 5–2 3–4 1–5 7–11 3–3 1–7 9–9 0–6 1–5 3–3 2–4 13–5 4–3 7–0 6–12
St. Louis 4–3 5–2 6–9 10–5 4–3 5–2 8–7 4–2 5–10 3–4 4–5 7–10 6–1 3–4 5–1 7–8
Washington 2–4 12–6 3–3 3–4 3–4 3–14 2–4 3–3 2–6 6–12 6–12 4–3 1–5 0–7 1–5 8–10

Rally songs

In 2007, Ernie Banks had requested that Evanston, Illinois native Eddie Vedder write the Cubs a song, and in August 2008 Vedder recorded "All the Way", which was released on September 18, 2008.[5] During the season, a new version of "Go, Cubs, Go" was recorded and released by the Manic Sewing Circle,[6] although the original 1984 Steve Goodman version became the official Cubs victory song.[7]

Playoffs

NLDS vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

The Chicago Cubs were eliminated from the playoffs after Los Angeles won the series, 3-0.

Game 1, October 1

Wrigley Field in Chicago

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Los Angeles 0 0 0 0 4 0 1 1 1 7 8 1
Chicago 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 9 1
WP: Derek Lowe (1–0)   LP: Ryan Dempster (0–1)
Home runs:
LAD: James Loney (1), Manny Ramírez (1), Russell Martin (1)
CHC: Mark DeRosa (1)
Attendance: 42,099

Game 2, October 2

Wrigley Field in Chicago

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Los Angeles 0 5 0 0 1 0 1 2 1 10 12 0
Chicago 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 3 8 4
WP: Chad Billingsley (1–0)   LP: Carlos Zambrano (0–1)
Home runs:
LAD: Manny Ramírez (2)
CHC: None
Attendance: 42,136

Game 3, October 4

Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chicago 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 8 1
Los Angeles 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 X 3 6 0
WP: Hiroki Kuroda (1–0)   LP: Rich Harden (0–1)   Sv: Jonathan Broxton (1)
Home runs:
CHC: None
LAD: None
Attendance: 56,000

After losing Game 3 to the Dodgers, the Cubs lost nine consecutive post-season games, dating back to the 2003 NLCS before winning the 2015 National League wild card game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Roster

2008 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

Coaching Staff

Player stats

Stats updated as of August 6, 2008

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Alfonso Soriano 109 453 127 .280 29 75
Ryan Theriot 149 580 178 .307 1 38
Derrek Lee 155 623 181 .291 20 90
Aramis Ramírez 149 554 160 .289 27 111
Geovany Soto 141 494 141 .285 23 86
Kosuke Fukudome 150 501 129 .257 10 58
Mark DeRosa 149 505 144 .285 21 87
Reed Johnson 109 333 101 .303 6 50
Jim Edmonds 85 250 64 .256 19 49
Daryle Ward 89 102 22 .216 4 17
Mike Fontenot 119 243 74 .305 9 40
Ronny Cedeño 99 216 58 .269 2 28
Henry Blanco 58 120 35 .292 3 12
Félix Pie 43 83 20 .241 1 10
Matt Murton 19 40 10 .250 0 6
Eric Patterson 13 38 9 .237 1 7

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player W L ERA G GS SV IP R ER BB K
José Ascanio
0
0
7.94
6
0
0
5.2
5
5
4
3
Neal Cotts
0
2
4.29
50
0
0
35.2
17
17
13
43
Ryan Dempster
17
6
2.96
33
33
0
206.2
75
68
76
187
Scott Eyre
2
0
7.15
19
0
0
11.1
9
9
4
14
Chad Fox
0
1
5.40
3
0
0
3.1
2
2
3
1
Sean Gallagher
3
4
4.45
12
10
0
58.2
31
29
22
49
Chad Gaudin
4
2
6.26
24
0
0
27.1
20
19
10
27
Rich Harden
5
1
1.77
12
12
0
71.0
15
14
30
89
Kevin Hart
2
2
6.51
21
0
0
27.2
24
20
18
23
Rich Hill
1
0
4.12
5
5
0
19.2
9
9
18
15
Bob Howry
7
5
5.35
72
0
1
70.2
44
42
13
59
Jon Lieber
2
3
4.05
26
1
0
46.2
24
21
6
27
Ted Lilly
17
9
4.09
34
34
0
204.2
97
93
64
184
Carlos Mármol
2
4
2.68
82
0
7
87.1
30
26
41
114
Jason Marquis
11
9
4.53
29
28
0
167.0
88
84
70
91
Sean Marshall
3
5
3.86
34
7
1
65.1
29
28
23
58
Carmen Pignatiello
0
0
13.50
2
0
0
0.2
1
1
2
0
Jeff Samardzija
1
0
2.28
26
0
1
27.2
7
7
15
25
Kerry Wood
5
4
3.26
65
0
34
66.1
25
24
18
84
Michael Wuertz
1
1
3.63
45
0
0
44.2
23
18
20
30
Carlos Zambrano
14
6
3.91
30
30
0
188.2
88
82
72
130
Totals
97
64
3.87
161
161
44
1450.2
669
624
548
1264

2007 post-season changes

Trades

November 12, 2007
To Detroit Tigers
Jacque Jones
To Chicago Cubs
Omar Infante
November 13, 2007
To Minnesota Twins
Craig Monroe
To Chicago Cubs
Clay Rapada
December 4, 2007
To Atlanta Braves
Will Ohman


Omar Infante

To Chicago Cubs
José Ascanio
December 6, 2007
To Tampa Bay Rays
Cash considerations
To Chicago Cubs
Tim Lahey
January 5, 2008
To New York Mets
Ángel Pagán
To Chicago Cubs
Ryan Meyers


Corey Coles

July 8, 2008
To Oakland Athletics
Sean Gallagher


Matt Murton
Eric Patterson
Josh Donaldson

To Chicago Cubs
Rich Harden


Chad Gaudin

Free agent acquisitions

Player Former team Contract Terms
Kosuke Fukudome Chunichi Dragons 4 years, $48 million
Jon Lieber Philadelphia Phillies 1 year, $3.5 million
Reed Johnson Toronto Blue Jays 1 year, $1.3 million
Jim Edmonds San Diego Padres 1 year, $280,000

Players lost to free agency

Player New team
Jason Kendall Milwaukee Brewers
Cliff Floyd Tampa Bay Rays
Mark Prior San Diego Padres
Steve Trachsel Baltimore Orioles
Wade Miller Toronto Blue Jays

Other news

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Iowa Cubs Pacific Coast League Pat Listach
AA Tennessee Smokies Southern League Buddy Bailey
A Daytona Cubs Florida State League Jody Davis
A Peoria Chiefs Midwest League Ryne Sandberg
A-Short Season Boise Hawks Northwest League Tom Beyers
Rookie AZL Cubs Arizona League Franklin Font

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Daytona

References

  1. 1 2 Finnell, Neil (December 29, 2008). "A Look Back at Chicago Cubs 2008: Getting Off to a Strong Start". Bleacher Report. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
  2. "Regular Season Standings". Major League Baseball. Associated Press. July 14, 2008. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  3. "Cubs tie record for most NL All-Stars". Yahoo! Sports. Associated Press. July 13, 2008. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  4. Gano, Rick (September 20, 2008). "Chicago Cubs win Central again". Yahoo! Sports. Yahoo! Inc. agency=Associated Press. Archived from the original on September 27, 2008. Retrieved September 21, 2008.
  5. "Cubbie jam". RedEye. Metromix. September 19, 2008. Retrieved September 20, 2008.
  6. "Manic Sewing Circle perform "Go Cubs Go"". WGNTV.com. Tribune Interactive. September 12, 2008. Retrieved September 21, 2008.
  7. "WGN Radio and Vibes Media team up to bring iconic Cubs anthem "Go Cubs Go" to mobile phones". WGN Radio. August 1, 2008. Retrieved September 20, 2008.
  8. The Official Site of The Chicago Cubs: News: McDonough steps down as president

External links

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