For the last two years, I've run a contest paralleling MLB.com's Free Agent Frenzy. (MLB.com login may be required to view that page.)

If you haven't done this before, here's how it works. MLB.com lists 15 top free agents -- we'll use the same ones -- and then you pick what team you think each player will sign with, and a number representing your confidence level in that signing, from 15 (most confident) to 1 (least confident). In other words, if you are 100% sure Ryan Dempster will re-sign with the Cubs, you'd give him 15 points. If you think he's back but you're less certain, give him fewer points. UPDATE TO CLARIFY THIS: Each number from 1 to 15 is given ONLY ONCE for the entire list of free agents; i.e. the guy you are most confident will sign with a particular team gets 15 points; the one you pick out of a hat gets 1 point.

Whoever has the most points after all 15 free agents on the list are signed wins. The prize this year will once again be a copy of Glenn Stout's "The Cubs", an excellent comprehensive history of the ballclub.

The 15 free agents are:

Bobby Abreu
Milton Bradley
A. J. Burnett
Pat Burrell
Ryan Dempster
Adam Dunn
Rafael Furcal
Derek Lowe
Oliver Perez
Manny Ramirez
Francisco Rodriguez
CC Sabathia
Ben Sheets
Mark Teixeira
Kerry Wood

Leave your picks in the comments. We'll use the same deadline as MLB's contest: 4 pm CT on Wednesday, November 12 (the day before free agents can sign with any team). I'll also need a volunteer to keep track of these and let me know who the winner is. I'm going to make picks; if somehow I win (highly unlikely!) the prize goes to the second place finisher. Good luck!

I don't think there are any big surprises here; I suspect our balloting will come pretty close to matching the BBWAA awards

In order for the tables to fit better, you'll have to click "Continue reading this post" to find them. For MVP's, we voted for the top 10 instead of the top 3, and points were allocated as follows: 14 points for first place, then 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 for 2nd through 9th.

My ballot: 1) Pujols 2) Wright 3) Beltran 4) Howard 5) A. Ramirez 6) Berkman 7) H. Ramirez 8) Braun 9) Delgado 10) Soto

Mike's ballot: 1) Howard 2) Pujols 3) Wright 4) Berkman 5) Delgado 6) Braun 7) Utley 8) H. Ramirez 9) A. Ramirez 10) Soto

Continue reading this post »

They did it again.

Each day, new heroes, new ways to win; I stare in amazement, as the atmosphere at Wrigley Field gets more and more playoff-like; today, Alfonso Soriano's 7th-inning homer off Clay Condrey gave the Cubs a 3-2 win over the Phillies, their seventh win in a row, but it was patience and walks that put the ballclub in position for victory.

Clogging the bases with relish, the Cubs scored the tying run in the sixth inning with no hits, as Ryan Theriot, Derrek Lee, Mark DeRosa and finally, Kosuke Fukudome, drew walks, forcing in a run. The first three walks (and two others earlier in the game) were off Philly starter Joe Blanton, who had the Cubs handcuffed until Aramis Ramirez singled in the fourth. Meanwhile, the Phils scraped two runs off Rich Harden, who wasn't sharp today, but just as Ryan Dempster did last night, he kept his team in the game despite being uncharacteristically wild -- walking four, and throwing 100 pitches in five innings. The first run came when Harden hit Chase Utley in the first, and then, apparently rattled, he gave up a walk and a single to Pat Burrell, and then an unusual bad throw by Fukudome, who hit either Lee or baserunner Ryan Howard on a relay, allowed Utley to score the second run in the fifth.

Another walk, also to DeRo, gave the Cubs their first run, getting that fifth-inning Philly run back, and though Jeff Samardzija wasn't sharp either today, walking two in his inning-plus, he kept it close enough for Soriano's heroics (and to claim his first major league win), and then Carlos Marmol, who closed because Kerry Wood had thrown in four straight games, shut the Phillies down with nasty sliders (I thought he had Utley struck out a pitch before he swung and missed; plate umpire Bill Welke's strike zone was a little strange today).

More history was made today: the Cubs' 51st win of the season at home ties them for the most home wins in a single year since 1945 -- that was accomplished in 1984 by the 96-win NL East champions. Eleven home games remain, so not only can they break that record, but they have a shot at the all-time Cub record for home wins, 58, which was set in the pennant year of 1910.

I don't know how many more transcendent words I can come up with. Each time this team seems to have reached a peak, they top it with a victorious way that we haven't seen before. Yes, a homer won today's game, but as I said, it was patience at the plate -- something that's been wonderful to see this year, something we haven't seen from a Cubs team in decades, if ever -- that put them in position for Soriano's game-winner.

So rest and enjoy the evening and savor, till tomorrow. Go Pirates!