August 30. They were showing signs of climbing back into the WC race, but couldn’t finish the sweep against a very bad Mets team.

That or when the Cardinals stomped the Dodgers at Busch. I knew they were just having one of those years.

I didn’t think Holliday made them more talented than us, I still don’t think that. If you play this season 100 times I think the Cubs still win the division 90 of them. Mostly because Carpenter is injured in 50 of those seasons.

No, not really, probably around mid-August I had a good inkling.

I realized that Lou wouldn’t budge and he was going to stick with him, granted Marmol was nothing to write home about. This team was inconsistent the entire season. Can you think very many hot streaks that they ran off which included teams other than Was and Pitt?

Season instantly over

But to be honest, after not being able to hold onto first place and quickly falling back 7 games back in c. 14 days in August, I did not feel that the chances were very good. The season wasn’t over at that point, but deep inside various protection mechanisms started to prepare themselves. If the Cubs had managed to turn things around in September, I would have been overjoyed, but the way it is, my momentary acute disappointment is not that great. This time around, the disappointment was not a quick sharp blow, but a long, slow, low level tooth ache.

It wasn’t over before all mathematical chances were exhausted, and as long as it’s not over, one must hope. At the same time one must temper ones hope with a dose of realism.

Eamus Catuli

Mid August but honestly I had a horrible feeling when Aramis got hurt. We were already having trouble scoring.

through the 27th. Cubs go 5-12 and 4 of the wins came against the Mets, Washington and the Padres.
 I don’t know about being over, however from that point I thought the Rockies were better than the Cubs and catching the Cards was going to be extremely difficult.
 The whole month of August it felt like Lou was sleeping and the Cubs had no juice, no fire. The month felt like it was never going to end, it killed the Cubs chances.

I’m taking my Cubs to win the series ticket from Vegas off the office wall even as we speak.

Aramis Ramirez dove for a ball at third base and caught it. But in the process, he injured his shoulder and dropped the ball. This caused him to miss half the season and removed his bat from the lineup. That was when I first knew it was over, but I was living in denial until August.

During All-star break we were in third and 3.5 out, but we played 18-9 ball during July and honestly thought we could string it together. But then August came, and we went 11-17.

The honest-to-God worst stretch—where I essentially kicked this season to the gutter—was August 3 – 27th. During that stretch we did the following:

Lost 2 / 4 to the Reds
Lost 3 / 4 to the Rox
Swept (3) by the Phils
Took two from the Pirates
Lost 2 / 3 to the Padres
Lost 3 / 4 to the Dodgers
Lost 2 / 3 to the Nationals

That’s 8 – 15 during a three week span. We were tied for the division lead before the Reds series, and we finished with the Nationals 10 games back. That’s when we lost the season.

Dan

It was early Sept (the 3rd) and it was a makeup game at home. I don’t remember why exactly that was the one for me, I think probably the numbers for the WC were just getting too large to overcome and the team had shown no ability to sustain a win streak.

I think back to last year (2008). The team started winning, and scoring runs in bunches. I decided early on that I was going to make an effort to live and die with each game less and enjoy the season. Playoffs are in Oct., worry about those then. I’m glad I did that, of course that was an easy season to enjoy. This season was disappointing, but I still enjoyed following our team.

Now I did manage to dredge up some faint Wild Card hopes after that, but I really felt like the Cubs had to hold the line during that trip and, when they went 2 and 5 while the Cardinals were ripping off win after win, I had a pretty strong feeling this season was not going to end well.

In fact, I really see the three key moments in this season as:

1. Aramis’ injury in May. It appeared to throw the team into uncertainty both in terms of who was going to play where and the ability to consistently score runs.

2. The eight-game losing streak later that month. Those games seemed to really undercut the team’s confidence. Then came June, a month in which just about every player (save DLee) put up shockingly low numbers. Granted, they did build it back up again to have a nice July, but I still feel (and this is obviously purely an emotional opinion) that the damage was done.

3. The aforementioned West Coast swing in August. It was put-up-or-shut-up time vs. the Cards and, well, the result is obvious.

On the bright side, as I tried to express in this Fanpost, I think the way this season played out gave us plenty of time to deal with our disappointment and, despite some inevitable sadness, I do maintain some positivity toward this 2009 team. Hanging on to a winning record should count for something in a year so fraught with injuries, bad luck and, well, Milton.

but if truth be told it was the game they lost on Sept. 17th against the Brewers after losing the night before that did it for me. I was there that day in a fairly empty upper deck with the wind blowing so hard that even though it was a warm, sunny day, I was freezing. It seemed like there were more Brewer fans than Cub fans which made me feel even more isolated. I left with a sinking feeling and tears in my eyes. I need a hug just thinking about it.

the first week of September. Drop two of three to the Mets in that situation, and you’re probably not going places.

I believe I even said “Season Over” in the game thread after Gregg allowed the game-tying double. The worst part of that game was that Gregg actually retired Adrian Gonzalez, the Padres’ best hitter, for the second out in the 9th before imploding.

Sometimes things happen that show you it’s a magical year (the Sandberg game in ‘84, the big comeback by the benchwarmers against Colorado last year). Sometimes the opposite happens (the Cubs losing two games in the same series in Pittsburgh in 1991 despite late inning Dawson grand slams in both), and after this game the season definitely had that "it’s not our year" feeling about it for me.

I stated my opinion, but we’ll be back next year for our Chicago Cubs.

… I suspected the season was over in May.

From a comment I made on BCB back in late May, "Bill James …. did an analysis way back in his "Baseball Abstract" days correlating the length of winning and losing streaks to odds of making the playoffs…. If I remember correctly, the tilting point was streaks of 5 games or greater. Things get really rosy or ugly beyond 5 games. Again, if I remember correctly, the odds of making the playoffs with a losing streak of 8 games or longer is in the very low double digits, something like 12-15%. Keep in mind this analysis was done in the pre-Wild Card era. FWIW, didn’t the Dodgers have an 8 losing streak last year before juicing up their lineup with ManRam?

Now I’m not prepared to throw in the towel on the 2009 Cubs. But realistically, very good teams, to say nothing of championship teams, historically have rarely had major extended losing streaks. We’re looking at a really steep climb, not impossible, but very difficult to overcome."

My heart, on the other hand, didn’t give up until it was mathematically impossible.

Sadly, this season, my head knew better than my heart.

Let’s enjoy these last few remaining games, since they are all the October baseball we’re going to get.

Onward to 2010 — GO CUBS GO !!!!

at this point I figured things were gonna go south. I think everyone else in that thread pretty much felt the same way

And the fat lady kinda made some noise .. I’d say.

But here’s a good place for a gratuitous shot of the most beautiful Cub fan you’ll ever see

Mrs. Cubnational .. wearing her 1998 Wild Card Hat.

My poor niece .. what was that you said, honey?

I thought you said THIS was the year!

Poor girl didn’t have a chance. She’ll be Cubbie Blue the rest of her life, probably. I just hope not Cubbie BLUE that long, if you get my drift ..

Because Blou said so. Ok I admit I held out hope for a miracle till maybe a week or so ago but I think it was the Nats series in August that killed me the most and the Mets right after that ( the series at Wrigley)

When we traded Marquis. I know it’s crazy, but he pitches for playoff teams.

No matter what I watched and wanted them to win, but this offseason told me it wasn’t to be.

we got beat real bad — my heart fell into my stomach and never quite resurfaced (it did flutter a couple of times though).

at the end of July right before our wedding. I always get so frustrated at a loss and I basically (I hate to say it) gave up on them and stopped watching by the end of August. I honestly don’t think I watched a game in Sept. And I believe it saved me many years of my life and many gray hairs in the near future.

Now neither the Cubs nor Tigers are alive…

:(

When Gregg blew that 1-0 lead in SD when the Cubs were 1 strike away from winning the game. It seemed like all the [remaining] air came out of the balloon right there and then.

It’s really time to switch gears now; looking to see the ’Hawks 2-0-1 in less than 12 hours !

When Z couldn’t go in Colorado and Marshall got thumped. I basically gave up hope at that point.