Wait until next season? In Chicago, this could be the Cubs’ year

Cubbies rooters, is it time to steel yourselves for the inevitable disappointment? Or is this the team that will break the club's 107-year World Series drought?

Rookie Kyle Schwarber is a hit with the Chicago Cubs, who are aiming for a play-off spot thanks to youthful mix of players. Hannah Foslien / AFP

All right, Chicago Cubs fans, you know the drill.

Your team is on the rise, soaring into play-off contention with a heady mix of exciting, young position players and a solid pitching staff.

You have won 12 of 13 games, including a four-game sweep of the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants, and you own the third-best record in the National League.

Your first-year manager, Joe Maddon, is among the smartest, calmest and fearless in baseball.

Your general manager, Theo Epstein, who pieced this talented team together in four years, is best known for building the championship team in Boston in 2004.

That ended the Red Sox’s historic 86-year-old World Series championship drought, and now he has taken aim on your own ridiculously long, 107-year trek through the desert.

Yes, Cubbies rooters, it is time to steel yourselves for the inevitable disappointment.

Will the Cubs collapse now and not even make the post-season, or will they get into the play-offs for the first time since 2008 and suffer a particularly painful death there?

It is certainly understandable if Cubs fans are jaded by the agonising history of their team.

They have not won a play-off game since 2003, when notorious fan Steve Bartman deflected a catchable foul ball, triggering a nightmarish sequence of events that kept the Cubs from the World Series.

At least hope springs eternal among the players, the ones who actually play the games and do not fixate on gloomy tradition.

“It’s good to stay oblivious to it,” relief pitcher James Russell told the Chicago Tribune recently. “Kind of act a little dumb to the fact.”

They are doing an excellent job, so far.

The team is now starting four rookies, the most recent addition being catcher-outfielder Kyle Schwarber, who has six home runs and 21 runs batted in his first 30 games.

His hot start inspired Maddon to make an unusual, but not out of character move: he juggled his line-up and benched struggling, veteran shortstop Starlin Castro, once considered a centrepiece of Epstein’s rebuild.

The other rookies are third base sensation Kris Bryant (16 HRs, 66 RBI, .360 on base percentage), infielder Addison Russell and outfielder Jorge Soler.

The nice thing is they do not have to spearhead the offence.

First baseman Anthony Rizzo (21 HRs, 65 RBI, 15 stolen bases, .405 OBP) is taking care of that, as well as providing a veteran presence at the ripe old age of 26.

Rizzo may be the line-up’s cornerstone, but he was quick to spread credit as the team has surged in August.

“It’s contagious,” Rizzo told Fox Sports. “We just want to keep it going. Get the next guy up and take care of business.”

The youth of the team led most to say the Cubs were a year or two away from a post-season berth. But Epstein acquired free agent gem Jon Lester to be the ace of the staff and the timetable accelerated.

The four starters who have been in the rotation all year have been rock steady, with earned run averages ranging from Jake Arrieta’s low of 2.36 to Kyle Hendricks’ high of 3.73.

Happily, the “kids” stepped up, too, under Maddon’s trusting tutelage.

“We’re trending in the right direction,” he said.

Uh-huh, say Cubs fans, heavy on suspicion.

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