It says here (and has all along) that Cubs win it all

I wrote in the Gazette back in February -- before the last snowstorm of the winter in Iowa, before the flood, before Wall Street cratered -- that the Chicago Cubs would win the World Series this year. Twenty-four challengers have fallen by the wayside. Seven remain.

Naturally, I project the Cubs to vanquish the pesky Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League playoffs. They will then dispose of the Phillies of Philadelphia in the NL Championship Series, and will dethrone the defending world-champion Boston Red Sox in the World Series.

The Hlog's preference would be a Cubs-White Sox Series. I have no allegiance to either team, but would love to see Chicago hog the Fall Classic.

If somehow, the Cubs fail, I hope it's the White Sox vs. Milwaukee in a World Series that will require relatively little fuel consumption for the teams involved. That would be a Series that no one more than a two-hour drive from Lake Michigan will watch, by the way.

If it's Tampa Bay against Philadelphia in the Series, well, good luck with that.

But it won't be. The symmetry is too good to be true. The Cubs' last World Series triumph was in 1908. They'll win in 2008, too. It is the way things must be. Long championship droughts were resolved by the Red Sox in '04 and the White Sox in '05. Those cleared the path for this year, this 100th-anniversary-of-futility season for Chicago's North Siders.

Enjoy these 11 postseason wins, Cubs fans. Don't get too nervous along the way. Victory is your destiny.