When I first thought about this post, I wasn’t going to talk about today’s weather, but it is reminiscent of the weather 25 years ago today. I’m going to continue riffing on the 1998 season especially as how it pertained to the Cubs.

In case you missed it, yesterday Matt Mervis made his long-awaited ML debut with the Cubs. Several Cubs have made equally hyped debuts in the last twenty-five years, that this one happened almost 25 years to The Date is important.

Mervis’s debut wasn’t all that extraordinary although it was memorable. One can’t judge careers by debuts, or if we do in this case, Mervis’ career will be average (1-4).

Back to today’s current weather and forecast, rainy and 60ish is exactly what it was like 25 years ago. I remember that Wednesday very well. I had the day off and was determined to see the Cubs play regardless of the weather and the opponent.

May 6, 1998, 20-year-old rookie Kerry Wood made his fifth career start against the Astros. Heading into the game his record was 2-2, an inconsistent but promising start. In his two victories, he was pretty solid, and his two losses he was pretty mediocre to bad.

Without going into an inning by inning, pitch by pitch account, this was the famous 20 strikeout, 2-hit shutout that launched his career.

As is the case with my writing, my scorekeeping has changed over the years. However, I still use some of the notations on my scorecard. I sat along the first base line for the entirety of the game, however I did move under the stands during certain stretches of real rain. I was able to record many of Wood’s 20 K’s (batters’ third strikes).

Obviously Kerry was dominant on that Wednesday afternoon, but Astros starter Shane Reynolds was quite sharp as well. He only allowed two runs and struck out 10 Cub hitters. (30 of 48 outs were K’s).

We’ll never know how many of the 15,000+ stayed for the game’s entirety because nobody would ever admit to leaving early. Even those people that weren’t keeping score had a pretty good sense of what was happening. Obviously, immediately after the game, the fans expectations were through the roof for Wood but not the Cubs, yet.

That his next start was equally as impressive (13 strikeouts) made comparisons to some of the greats unavoidable-no matter how premature. Since the Cubs last appeared in the postseason (1989), we didn’t have much to celebrate.

Even though the expectations aren’t very high for the Cubs this season, Mervis’s arrival is sure to excite the fanbase and media. Unlike 1998 when the media’s focus became Wood’s unhealthy high school workload, I don’t think anyone is worried if Mervis doesn’t get a day off until mid-November.

I know every fan would like to see their teams be more proactive when it comes to bringing prospects to the ML, but circumstances usually dictate when prospects come up. In this case, the Cubs are reacting to a week’s worth of weak hitting. Yes, that does sound like a Stooges line.

After Woods’ historic performance, there wasn’t much talk around the proverbial water cooler. After the game, I went home and changed for a concierge function in the city. Nobody was talking about the game. My co-workers were interested in how I spent my day off, but they weren’t worried about the specifics.

I guarantee that everyone at Addison and Clark is already buzzing about yesterday’s game and not Miguel Amaya’s ML debut earlier this week. Amaya was recalled when catcher Yan Gomes went on the concussion protocol IL.