Rarely have I had a chance to write about Da Bears.  I went to my last game at Soldier Field last Halloween, and saw a rare win over the Vikings the day after seeing the Cubs win game 5 of the World Series.  Fellow I.U. alumni Jordan Howard was outstanding for the struggling Bears, as he was today versus the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Although the Bears tried to shoot themselves in the foot several times, including a disastrous goal-line fumble and stepping out of bounds during a potential game-ending touchdown run,  Howard carried them into the end zone for a 23-17 overtime victory.  It looks like a big day for my favorite Chicago teams.  The White Sox are beating the Royals 8-1 and the Cubs are one inning away from winning three in Milwaukee. Rarely, do I see all three Chicago teams victorious on the same day.  Couple that with an I.U. football victory over Georgia Southern yesterday, and I probably couldn’t ask for much more this weekend.  Although, the Cubs walk-off loss yesterday was painful and the Ducks fell short against Arizona State.  Maybe the Timbers can also win later this afternoon.

Former White Sox, Jose Quintana, is two outs away from his 7th victory for the Cubs.  Ryan Braun grounds out for the Brewers, who will fall to 9-10 on the season against the division leading Cubs.  Travis Shaw pops out to complete the Quintana complete game shut-out.  Three hits is all he allowed in the 5-0 victory, but most importantly the full nine inning performance was much needed for a tired Cub bullpen.   The Magic Number drops to 2, as the Cubs travel to St. Louis for the next four games.  Three out of four in Milwaukee was beyond my expectations, hoping simply for a draw.  A split against the Cardinals would earn the Division title again!  Holy Cow!

Seven games are left in the regular season, and the Cubs hold a 5.5 game lead on Milwaukee and 6 games on St. Louis, with a total of 87 victories.  At this point, the Cubs will travel to Washington to play the Nats in the first series of the Playoffs.  The Nationals have won 94 games, with Miami hardly providing any Division competition at 20.5 games behind.  They’ve also lost 7 fewer games than the Cubs after winning today at the Mets.  Scherzer got his 16th victory tying teammate Gonzales.  Arrieta has 14 victories for the Cubs, matching the third Washington starter, Strasburg.  It will be a tough away from home match-up for the defending World Champion Cubs, who won 2 out of 3 when they last met in August.  The two potential Division Champions split in D.C. back in late June, and will probably meet again  for a best of 5 starting October 6th.  Go Cubs!

While the Cubs prepare to uncork the champagne, da Bears battle the Cheeseheads on Thursday night.  After losses against Atlanta and Tampa Bay, a victory against a Division rival would even the score for the young season.  The Pack is struggling today against the Bengals, so they are Bear vulnerable.  Minnesota and Detroit are both already at 2-1 to lead the NFC North. I try to get excited about football, but with Indiana and Chicago as my favorites, I often find myself looking at baseball scores and wishing that basketball season would start.  A rare weekend like this, where all my teams are winners, gives me false hope.  Go Bears!