Cubs Win!

The Wrigley Field bleachers are exactly what bleachers should be -- sunny, loud and fun. They also provide a prime view of the roof seating out across the street, where local real estate owners have planted full sets of bleachers on top of otherwise ordinary buildings. My colleague, MLB.com Cubs writer Carrie Muskat, tells me that the Cubs decided to take a cut from those ticket sales, rather than attempt to thwart them. Sounds like smart business to me.

As I was admiring those makeshift bleacher seats, a Cubs fan sitting in the last row of the real bleachers called out to a small boy, decked out in Cubs gear and walking below. 

"Hey buddy, guess what?" he said.

The child looked up, but said nothing. 

"Go Cubs!" the man yelled.

The child grinned.

Not everyone was in such a cheerful mood, however -- especially not after the Cubs piled on four more runs in the eighth inning to take an 8-1 lead. One group of Mets fans clung to a railing behind some box seats, hanging on every pitch of the late Cubs rally. When shortstop Ronny Cedeno blasted a grand slam to all but put the Mets away, Korrin Martin, 28, of Kenosha, Wisc., dropped to her knees, while her friend, Rob Piparo, 29, of New Brunswick, N.J., walked over to a pair of Cubs fans and solemnly shook their hands.

"I was kind of mad at him for that," Martin said. "You don't want to do that if you're a real Mets fan." 

For any Mets fans -- real or not -- the eventual 8-1 loss may not have been the ending that they anticipated, but it still couldn't completely spoil the fun. Not here. Not in Wrigley.

"I don't care," Piparo said. "This is like a heaven of baseball. I came here last night, too, and I felt like a little kid. It's like a cathedral. I don't even care if the Mets win or lose, it's just great to come out here." 

Now, with the game having ended and the fans spilling out onto the street, it's time for me to climb back up to Addison Station and head on over to U.S. Cellular Field.

There's still plenty more baseball to come.