One can pick any moment in time and make assumptions today based on similarities. I’m not doing that here, but rather I thought this day in Cubs history would be worth exploring as it goes back to 1998-a year I’ve previously posted about. In fact, I was thinking about yesterday, the 20th.

Even with a few dozen old scorecards lying around the house, it’s impossible for me to remember the details of every Cubs game from 1998. I’ve already said it was a tumultuous summer to say the least. The Cubs just beat the Giants 7-3 and Kevin Tapani earned his 15th win. Sosa went 0-5, but Glenallen Hill had a pinch hit grand slam. More importantly, the Cubs improved to 70-57, and were a boatload of games behind the Astros. The Cubs would never catch Houston, but at the time the Cubs were in the chase for the one wildcard berth.

As good as Cody Bellinger has played for this Cubs team, he’s not going to reach the crazy numbers that Sosa put up in 1998. That team had an odd mix of older players and pitchers that had peak seasons that year. Judge this crew for yourself. This year’s team has already been purged of higher paid, veterans in favor of better performing young players. This year’s team is only 3 games behind the first place Brewers and are fighting for the last of three wildcard spots. According to some close to that ’98 team, the front office erred in the other direction by re-signing some of the starts from the ’98 team. There aren’t really that many similarities between the two teams and I’m still holding off on discussing the 2003 team.