Baseball fever is raging in the Midwest.

Here in Chicago, Cubs' fans are jazzed as the Cubs have climbed back into the NL Central race. Or rather, the division-leading Brewers have backed up of late, much to the dismay of my two Taxpayer Advocacy Panel colleagues from Milwaukee who were in town for the Tax Forum.

It's been fun these past three days talking baseball (and taxes) with Sandy and Mary Ann. It's especially nice to see fans so excited about the possibility of a pennant or more. I remember that feeling.

The hubby and I got to see the Orioles beat the other Chicago team back in '83 en route to the Birds' World Series win over the Phillies. That was a great season. We saw Brooks Robinson inducted into the Hall of Fame, the Birds' won it all and we -- and by we, I mean obnoxious fan me -- got to boo Pete Rose during the World Series!

Although the O's suck of late and the Astros continue to frustrate us by digging themselves into a deep hole at the start of each season, I still love the game.

And there is one, and only one, good thing about your team being out of it. You can simply enjoy the sport itself without getting overwrought about the game outcomes.

But it's still more fun to win and win it all.

Next year.

Taxes and baseball: In addition to Major League Baseball's contenders and pretenders jockeying for position, fans are waiting for some momentous milestones.

Tom Glavine is shooting for his 300th win (if only the bullpen would help out a bit), A-Rod’s 500th four-bagger could come any time now and, of course, there's Barry Bonds, one shot away from tying Hank Aaron's 755 career home runs.

As my friends from Milwaukee can tell you, Hammerin' Hank's final home run came as a Brewer back in the summer of 1976 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

To commemorate this special time in baseball, the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog today highlighted the 10 Most Significant Tax Events in Baseball History.

The list is from a speech IRS chief counsel Don Korb delivered last summer at Cooperstown. It's an interesting look at the convergence of the sport and the tax man, but I gotta agree with one of the comments on the post:

How can you leave Pete Rose’s tax evasion conviction off the list?