In major-league history, only 15 teams have lost more than 110 games.  The Cubs are flirting with becoming the 16th.  Pick any length of time and assume the Cubs' record for the rest of the season will be the same as it has been over that period, and here are the results:

Last 5 Games: Season Record 41-121
Last 10 Games: Season Record 53-109
Last 15 Games: Season Record 49-113
Last 20 Games: Season Record 41-121
Last 25 Games: Season Record 46-116
Last 30 Games: Season Record 53-109
Last 35 Games: Season Record 58-104
Last 40 Games: Season Record 62-100
Last 45 Games: Season Record 65-97

At absolute best, the Cubs right now are a 97-loss team.  It is much more likely that they will lose between 100 and 110 games, and 115 is still a good possibility.

Al is fond of saying that no team is really as bad as it looks when it is losing, but these statistics seem to show that the 2006 Cubs are a remarkably consistent team.  This isn't just a slump, and it can't be shrugged off as a fluke anymore.

How can the team fix this?  I'm not sure they can at this point--the damage is just too deep.  But a good plan would be to start by getting rid of the coaching staff, both pitching and hitting (Gary Matthews needs to go, too, because he was the hitting coach during the early days of the present regime).  If Dusty Baker has to go in order to make this happen, then so be it.  As no one on this board gets tired of pointing out, this team lacks fundamentals, and those people who are responsible for teaching and reinforcing those fundamentals have to go.  This won't be a panacea, but it may help take this team from a historically awful performer to a merely run-of-the-mill bad team.

[EDIT: I fixed the math error in the "Last 45 games" entry. Sorry; it's late and I can't do simple arithmetic. The basic point remains the same.]

It's time to realize the Cubs won't win the World Series this year.  It's time to realize the Cubs won't win the Series next year.  It's time to stop calling for Dusty's head and looking for the big trade.  It's time to realize that the Cubs can't win the World Series--ever--because they're a minor league team.

Of course, they're not really a minor league team.  They play in the National League, the most major of major leagues.  But perhaps it's time that we started treating the Cubs as a minor league team.  With minor league baseball, no one hangs on every pitch, no one rejoices too terribly in a win, no one is too awfully sorrowed by a loss.  People just enjoy baseball in a more pure form.

It's time for us to abandon whatever expectations we have for the Cubs.  Go to the games, watch the games on TV, whatever.  Enjoy the little things that the Cubs--sometimes--do right.  It's time to appreciate the games for their leisurely pace.  It's time to relish the traditions and rituals that draw each of us to the game.  It's time to languish in the ebb and flow of a 162-game season.  In short, it's time to treat the Cubs like a minor league team and just enjoy baseball for the sake of baseball.

Not that it is likely to be on anyone's mind, but we should probably cross Delmon Young off of any lists of possible trade targets.  Apparently,

Top Tampa Bay prospect Delmon Young was suspended indefinitely by the International League on Thursday, a day after throwing a bat that hit a replacement umpire in the chest.

I think someone needs anger management training.

Read more and watch the video here.

This is a very odd story:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9967711/

Apparently, Ugueth Urbina has been charged with attempting to kill some of his household employees with machetes--and also trying to set them on fire.  Good thing we didn't go get him last year.

(Admittedly, when I saw the headline--"Star Pitcher Charged with Attempted Machete Murder"--I just naturally assumed it was Carlos Zambrano.  Got to love the guy's spirit, but I wouldn't want to be on his bad side.)

This is really sad.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/cs-050811doubleduty,1,1897455.story ?coll=cs-home-headlines

Double Duty Radcliffe died today at the age of 103.  He was thought to be the oldest living former professional baseball player.

Although his career ended in the 1950's, he did throw one pitch for the Schaumburg Flyers at the age of 96.

I've been pretty slow getting these up on the web, but here are a few Cubs photos taken on recent trips to Wrigley Field.  (These are from 4/24 and 5/21, games where I traded my normal upper-deck seats for better tickets closer to the field.)  Please enjoy--I'll try to post more when there are some worthy of posting.

http://molechaser.smugmug.com/gallery/593359