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2003 Chicago Cubs season

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2003 Chicago Cubs
National League Central champions
LeagueNational League
DivisionCentral
BallparkWrigley Field
CityChicago
Record88–74 (.543)
Divisional place1st
OwnersTribune Company
General managersJim Hendry
ManagersDusty Baker
TelevisionFSN Chicago
Superstation WGN
WCIU-TV
(Chip Caray, Steve Stone)
RadioWGN
(Pat Hughes, Ron Santo)
StatsESPN.com
Baseball Reference
← 2002
2004 →

The 2003 Chicago Cubs season was the 132nd season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 128th in the National League and the 88th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs were managed by Dusty Baker in his first year in Chicago. The Cubs went 88–74 during the 2003 season and won the National League Central for the first time since the division's formation in 1994, and the team's first division title since its 1989 NL East title. In the NLDS, the Cubs defeated the Atlanta Braves three games to two for their first postseason series win since 1908. The Cubs lost to the Florida Marlins four games to three in the NLCS.

Previous season

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The Cubs were coming off of a poor year in 2002, finishing 67–95 in fifth place in the NL Central and costing manager Don Baylor his job. The Cubs hired Dusty Baker, fresh off his World Series appearance with the San Francisco Giants, to replace Baylor.

Offseason

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Regular season

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Summary

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The team's success can be attributed first and foremost to its starting rotation, which featured Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, Carlos Zambrano, and Matt Clement, each of whom won at least 13 games. The pitching staff as a whole led the National League in strikeouts with 1,404, over 100 more than any other team. While not nearly as dominant in hitting, the Cubs' lineup was bolstered by acquisitions at what was a very active trade deadline, including Aramis Ramírez, Randall Simon, and Kenny Lofton.

The team started slow but finished September with a 19–8 record to win the NL Central. As the division winner with the third best record, the Cubs faced the Atlanta Braves who had finished the season in a tie for the best record in the majors in a best of five games format. The Cubs won the first game of the series and the teams alternated wins leading to a game 5 at Turner Field to determine the series winner. The Cubs won the game 5–1.

The series win, their first since 1908, resulted in a matchup against the Florida Marlins for the right to go to the World Series. The Marlins won the first game in Chicago, but the Cubs won the next three to take a three games to one lead. Florida won game five as the series shifted back to Chicago for games six and seven. With Mark Prior on the mound, the Cubs took a 3–1 lead into the 8th inning before a series of errors led to an 8-run inning for the Marlins. The win forced a game seven with Kerry Wood on the mound for the Cubs. In a high-scoring affair that included a Kerry Wood home run, the Marlins shocked the Cubs 9–6 to deny the Cubs a trip to their first World Series since 1945.

The 2003 season brought a great deal of national attention to the Cubs, both positive and negative. On one hand, their surprising regular season run to first place in the NL Central, and the excellent performances of their top three pitchers, all of whom were age 26 or younger, seemed to suggest that the Cubs would be contenders for the foreseeable future. At the same time, however, the Cubs' squandering of the 3–1 series lead in the NLCS, and the manner in which it occurred, seemed to reaffirm the perceptions of the Cubs as "lovable losers" and a cursed franchise.

Season standings

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National League Central

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NL Central
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago Cubs 8874 .543 — 44‍–‍37 44‍–‍37
Houston Astros 8775 .537 1 48‍–‍33 39‍–‍42
St. Louis Cardinals 8577 .525 3 48‍–‍33 37‍–‍44
Pittsburgh Pirates 7587 .463 13 39‍–‍42 36‍–‍45
Cincinnati Reds 6993 .426 19 35‍–‍46 34‍–‍47
Milwaukee Brewers 6894 .420 20 31‍–‍50 37‍–‍44

Record vs. opponents

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2003 National League record

Source: MLB Standings Grid – 2003

Team AZ ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LAD MIL MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL AL
Arizona—2–52–47–210–92–55–110–93–34–24–24–23–39–105–143–311–4
Atlanta5–2—4–23–36–09–105–14–24–212–711–89–107–26–12–44–210–5
Chicago4–22–4—10–73–34–29–72–410–63–35–11–510–84–24–28–99–9
Cincinnati2–73–37–10—4–22–45–122–48–102–42–45–45–113–33–39–77–5
Colorado 9–100–63–32–4—4–22–47–125–13–42–52–43–612–77–124–29–6
Florida5–210–92–44–22–4—1–52–57–213–612–713–62–45–11–53–39–6
Houston1–51–57–912–54–25–1—4–29–83–32–42–410–63–32–411–711–7
Los Angeles 9–102–44–24–212–75–22–4—4–24–23–32–55–18–116–134–211–7
Milwaukee3–32–46–1010–81–52–78–92–4—0–66–34–210–75–11–53–135–7
Montreal2–47–123–34–24–36–133–32–46–0—14–58–113–34–27–01–59–9
New York2–48–111–54–25–27–124–23–33–65–14—7–124–23–34–21–55–10
Philadelphia2–410–95–14–54–26–134–25–22–411–812–7—2–44–33–34–28–7
Pittsburgh3–32–78–1011–56–34–26–101–57–103–32–44–2—4–22–47–105–7
San Diego10–91–62–43–37–121–53–311–81–52–43–33–42–4—5–142–48–10
San Francisco14–54–22–43–312–75–14–213–65–10–72–43–34–214–5—5–110–8
St. Louis3–32–49–87–92–43–37–112–413–35–15–12–410–74–21–5—10–8

Transactions

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Roster

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2003 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Game log

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2003 Game Log: 88–74
March: 1–0
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordBox
1March 31@ Mets15–2Wood (1–0)Glavine (0–1)53,5861–0
April: 14–12
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordBox
2April 2@ Mets4–1Leiter (1–0)Clement (0–1)Benítez (1)20,5941–1
3April 3@ Mets6–3Prior (1–0)Trachsel (0–1)17,2442–1
4April 4@ Reds10–9Williamson (1–0)Veres (0–1)29,0482–2
5April 5@ Reds9–7Zambrano (1–0)Haynes (0–2)Borowski (1)28,9083–2
6April 6@ Reds5–4White (1–0)Guthrie (0–1)Williamson (1)24,0233–3
–April 7ExposPostponed (snow) Rescheduled for April 8
7April 8Expos6–1Clement (1–1)Day (1–1)29,1384–3
8April 9Expos3–0Prior (2–0)Vázquez (1–1)29,9665–3
9April 10Expos7–1Armas (2–1)Estes (0–1)30,2255–4
10April 11Pirates3–2D'Amico (1–1)Zambrano (1–1)Williams (5)33,6055–5
11April 12Pirates4–0Wood (2–0)Benson (2–1)Borowski (2)35,2266–5
12April 13Pirates4–3Farnsworth (1–0)Boehringer (0–1)Borowski (3)29,5587–5
13April 14Reds11–3Anderson (1–1)Prior (2–1)Riedling (1)37,5287–6
14April 15Reds11–1Estes (1–1)Graves (0–2)31,6428–6
15April 16Reds10–4Zambrano (2–1)Wilson (0–1)27,3889–6
16April 17Reds16–3Wood (3–0)Haynes (0–4)Benes (1)29,67210–6
17April 18@ Pirates7–2Clement (2–1)Benson (2–2)15,03711–6
18April 19@ Pirates6–1 (10)Prior (3–1)Sauerbeck (0–1)31,51812–6
19April 20@ Pirates8–2Torres (2–0)Estes (1–2)14,85412–7
20April 22Padres7–2Zambrano (3–1)Lawrence (2–2)35,18513–7
21April 23Padres2–0Eaton (1–1)Wood (3–1)Herges (1)35,76813–8
22April 24Padres2–1Pérez (1–2)Clement (2–2)Wright (2)35,67313–9
23April 25@ Rockies11–7Prior (4–1)Cruz (3–1)32,16214–9
24April 26@ Rockies8–5Chacón (4–0)Estes (1–3)Jiménez (5)35,60414–10
25April 27@ Rockies6–3Oliver (1–2)Zambrano (3–2)Jiménez (6)35,07014–11
26April 29@ Giants4–2Wood (4–1)Rueter (2–1)Borowski (4)39,83915–11
27April 30@ Giants5–0Schmidt (3–0)Clement (2–3)40,12415–12
May: 14–12
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordBox
28May 1@ Giants5–1 (10)Cruz (1–0)Worrell (1–1)41,52416–12
29May 2Rockies7–4Estes (2–3)Chacón (4–1)Borowski (5)29,23617–12
30May 3Rockies6–4Speier (2–0)Guthrie (0–2)Jiménez (7)38,33217–13
31May 4Rockies5–4 (10)Borowski (1–0)Reed (2–1)37,22318–13
32May 5Brewers5–3Sheets (3–3)Clement (2–4)DeJean (6)35,30418–14
33May 6Brewers9–6Leskanic (2–0)Cruz (1–1)DeJean (7)34,24018–15
34May 7Brewers2–1Estes (3–3)Rusch (1–6)Borowski (6)37,57419–15
35May 9Cardinals6–3Morris (4–2)Zambrano (3–3)Fassero (1)38,53119–16
36May 10Cardinals3–2 (10)Remlinger (1–0)Eldred (2–1)38,10620–16
–May 11CardinalsPostponed (rain) Rescheduled for September 2
37May 12@ Brewers11–5Prior (5–1)Rusch (1–7)19,10621–16
38May 13@ Brewers7–2Estes (4–3)Quevedo (0–1)18,45422–16
39May 14@ Brewers6–1Zambrano (4–3)Kinney (2–3)27,56623–16
40May 15@ Brewers4–2 (17)Farnsworth (2–0)Kieschnick (0–1)Wellemeyer (1)31,62424–16
41May 16@ Cardinals7–4Williams (5–0)Clement (2–5)Eldred (2)42,58924–17
42May 17@ Cardinals2–1Remlinger (2–0)Kline (1–4)Borowski (7)45,38525–17
43May 18@ Cardinals6–3Hermanson (1–1)Cruz (1–2)Eldred (3)45,77325–18
44May 19@ Cardinals2–0Morris (5–3)Zambrano (4–4)46,73425–19
–May 20@ PiratesPostponed (rain) Rescheduled for September 19
45May 21@ Pirates5–2D'Amico (4–4)Wood (4–2)Williams (13)35,08625–20
46May 22@ Pirates3–2Remlinger (3–0)Sauerbeck (0–4)Borowski (8)14,54426–20
47May 23@ Astros7–5Linebrink (1–1)Prior (5–2)Wagner (13)29,66026–21
48May 24@ Astros3–2Estes (5–3)Redding (3–4)Borowski (9)37,83927–21
49May 25@ Astros7–3Zambrano (5–4)Miller (2–6)37,56528–21
50May 26Pirates10–0Fogg (2–2)Wood (4–3)40,22528–22
51May 27Pirates9–4Benson (5–5)Clement (2–6)35,96128–23
52May 28Pirates5–4Prior (6–2)D'Amico (4–5)Borowski (10)32,40629–23
53May 30Astros9–1Miller (3–6)Estes (5–4)36,68729–24
54May 31