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Today's Debaters are:
Gene Zarnick, Favre Dollar Footlongs
Justin Bridgman, Talking Chicago Baseball
Today's Topic is: Do the Cubs have an advantage playing so many day games?
The Cubs DO have an advantage playing so many day games
By Gene Zarnick, Favre Dollar Footlongs - www.twitter.com/FavreDollar: The Annoyances of Players, Fans, the Media, and of Course Brett Favre
 Every disadvantage has an advantage; it's just how you perceive it.
Many fans and even players think the Chicago Cubs are at a disadvantage because they play almost 50 day games a year. They claim they can't keep a sleeping pattern, they have to get up early during a three game series, and flights back to Chicago with the game the next day really put them in a predicament.
I disagree. To me disadvantages are excuses for why you can't get something done. You have to have the mindset, the perseverance, and the discipline to turn a negative into a positive. The Cubs just aren't doing that.
The Cubs are the only team in Major League Baseball that utilizes a majority of day games in their home ballpark. It's a tradition that has been passed on and will probably continue forever. The day games have been scaled back a tad bit year by year, but a majority of their home games are still going on when the sun comes out.
I mentioned the excuses that people give to why day games are a detriment; let's look at why they're a positive. In business any company wants to create an absolute advantage over their competitors. For those of you that don't have a business background or didn't pay attention in economics in high school, an absolute advantage is when a party (company, firm, baseball team) is able to produce more of a good or a service with the same amount of resources.
Of course the principle of absolute advantage doesn't fit perfectly with baseball, but what the Cubs have with their day game schedule is an absolute advantage. All teams have 81 home games. If the Cubs can produce more day games then every single other team in baseball then their absolute advantage is apparent. Every other team in baseball has a minimal amount of day games and an abundance of night games. The Cubs just need to realize how their advantage can be capitalized from.
The Cubs need to learn that because they can be adjusted to their awkward schedule, they can be accustomed to the regiment. If they think it's difficult to come from a road trip back home and play the next afternoon then it would be much more difficult for any other team to do so who isn't used to it. Playing back to back day games should be no problem, they just need to understand the situation and go to bed earlier to get their needed rest. It seems difficult, but it isn't. Being the best and getting past obstacles with ease means not following the norm and doing things that are unorthodox to get you there. The Cubs have that with their day games, they just need to see the advantage in them.
The Cubs advantage with day games is apparent, learning how to make it advantage isn't. It takes an attitude and discipline from everyone involved to rid the negative context from the word day game. No other team in baseball has what the Cubs have. No other team can set themselves apart in any other area like the Chicago Cubs can. If a team's field was made out of cement it would be a pretty tough task as well, but once they got used to it, they'd be much better than any other team that came in there to play.
The team just needs to get used to it. They should've by now because the day game schedule isn't going to change anytime soon. Day games can't be a disadvantage because there's no such thing as a disadvantage. It's about taking what you have that sets you apart and using it in a way that causes the other side to feel like they're at a disadvantage. - Gene Zarnick, Favre Dollar Footlongs
The Cubs Do NOT have an advantage playing so many day games
By Justin Bridgman, Talking Chicago Baseball: Talking Chicago Baseball is a Cubs and White Sox blog that is dedicated to talking everything about both of Chicago's baseball teams. With the exception of two weekends a year TCB is the place where the Cubs and the White Sox co-exsist (somewhat) peacefully.
 Simply put I think the Cubs are at a disadvantage by playing in so many day games. Look no further than the 102 year streak of not winning a World Series title, though odds are more night games doesn't change the fact that the team couldn't hit right handed pitching its last two trips to the playoffs.
The Cubs are famous for playing a majority of their home games during the day, up until 1988 the team didn't even have lights at their home stadium. The first night game in baseball was played in 1935, and night games became a regular thing around 1940. Using 1940 as a starting point of night baseball, with the Cubs not adapting it until 1988, we see that the Cubs managed to make it to the postseason just twice and had just 10 seasons with a record above .500. Since they put lights at Wrigley, there have been five trips to the postseason and 10 seasons above .500 in 22 years.
As the years have gone on the Cubs have slowly added more night home games, just a few years ago the Cubs played just 18 night games, in 2010 the Cubs will play 30 home night games, is it a coincidence that the team has had better records as the number of night games rises? I think not.
The time the Cubs see the biggest disadvantage of day games is Friday afternoons when they played at 1:20 in the afternoon, not long after playing night games the day before on the road. Often the other team gets into Chicago earlier and is well rested, while the Cubs don't get in until late, only to have to wake up the next morning and play a day game. Proof that this was an issue comes from the fact that this season the schedule has eliminated all those instances. The Cubs won't have to do that once in 2010.
Day games involve the players having a completely different schedule than night games; it wears on Cubs players the first few months of every season, especially those who are new to Chicago. Cubs free agent signees have been notoriously slow starters recently, and adjusting to the different schedule is one of the reasons why. After having a 40-40 season Alfonso Soriano hit just one homer his first month, guys like Milton Bradley, Moises Alou, Mark DeRosa, Jacque Jones, Derrek Lee and Greg Maddux all had rough first months with the Cubs. Adjusting to a schedule that requires an early morning wakeup isn't always easy for guys who enjoy going out at night in the big city.
You could ask then why other teams aren't the ones at a disadvantage, since they aren't used to playing during the day, but remember that they only come in and play two or three days of day baseball before returning to their normal night game routine. The Cubs players have to stay in day game routine for longer periods of time, and each road trip brings back a readjustment period to home day baseball. It seems to take three or four months for new players to adjust to the tough schedule. How is it an advantage to the Cubs to go out on a 10 game West Coast swing, and then have to return home to play three game weekend day series at home? You always hear the saying that baseball players are creatures of habit, except that Cubs players have to constantly change their routine based on their day game heavy home schedule.
On the surface it might seem like the Cubs get an advantage by playing so many day games, and in the scope of an individual game that might be true. Over the course of a long season though playing 50+ home games during the day wears down players who are used to sleeping in and playing later at night. Guys might want to go out at night, but can't because they need to wake up early to play. That makes them unhappy and even more likely to struggle on the field.
Cubs' new ownership is pushing for the number of home games to rise from 30 to 50; they want the Cubs to join the 21st century. When players were asked about this they all supported the idea, another example of them not liking day baseball in large chunks. Day baseball is a thing of the past; the rest of the league has an average of 54 home night games a season. I don't think it's a coincidence that as the Cubs home night games have gone up in number, the team has been more successful overall. Clearly there is no advantage had by the Cubs because they play more days games, if anything they are at a disadvantage. - Justin Bridgman, Talking Chicago Baseball
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