To a large degree in 2016, the teams that were expected to be good were good, the teams that were expected to be lousy were lousy, and the teams expected to be in the middle were in the middle. The ZiPS projection system projected 11 teams to finish below .500 in 2016 and all 11 proceeded to do just that. On an overall basis, ZiPS missed the average team by 5.2 wins, the smallest margin for ZiPS ever. And while it would be tempting to say this is because ZiPS was just super amazing in 2016, Vegas also did better than usual, missing in the over/under lines by 5.7 wins a team. In many ways, then, the brain's capacity to withstand sorrow benefited Cubs fans. The championship drought bred in them an adaptive resilience to the day-in, day-out disappointment that afflicts almost all baseball fans, 97 percent of whose teams won't win any given World Series. It allowed them to savor for decades the imaginative pleasure of a future title. It prompted them to reframe the franchise's struggles as a source of pride, a rallying point for a community of tested partisans. It was, one might even say, pretty good, even if hedonically unfulfilling. cheap jerseys So when Kris Bryant made that final throw to Anthony Rizzo, Shea didn't feel a hedonic spike of dopamine so much as relief for every Cubs fan he knew. "They can put all this to rest and go through life not worrying that they've been left out by God. They can enjoy baseball for what it is." The former senator did contribute some original work, using his ties to law enforcement to strong-arm former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski into revealing titillating new details. But in the end, the lasting impact of the Mitchell report was to cast the names of 86 players to the public mob to be tarred and feathered without respect to context.www.cheapujerseys.com Path to the playoffs for every NL East teamThe NL East looks like a two-team race again, but how much pressure will the Nationals and Mets get from the Marlins, Phillies and Braves in 2017? There are still a huge number of free agents available, but let's look at the AL East and where each team stands right now in its hunt for the 2017 postseason (teams are listed in the order they finished in last season's AL East standings). cincinnatibengalsjerseyspop Rick Hanson, a senior fellow at the University of Berkeley and author of Hardwiring Happiness, considers this. The key to extending the window of a happy event, he says, "is unbelievably simple: Have it, enjoy it. Neurons that fire together wire together. The longer you stay with it, the more intensely you feel it. Every single time a Cubs fan replays the World Series, it's going to be a happy moment." We can accept this science while rejecting its bleakness. Being born into Cubs fandom was a miracle for which every Wrigleyville streetlight climber should be justifiably grateful. But the hard work to lasting happiness is just beginning in Chicago. Giovani Lo Celso excited to link up with 'big club' PSG in January, Surprise hospital visit forms a new friendship for Kerryon Johnson, Top 5 memorable moments from the Audi 2016 MLS Cup Playoffs
