The Associated Press

CHICAGO - Eric Karros' camcorder has been busy the last month, capturing the experience he says every player should have at least once - a season in Chicago.

What the first baseman saw in his viewfinder this weekend was a jubilant celebration, a city and team sharing a division championship, a rare occurrence for the Chicago Cubs.

Now after manager Dusty Baker got the Cubs to the playoffs in his first season, Karros hopes to keep on recording. The Cubs open the playoffs Tuesday in Atlanta.

"Obviously, when you play here, you hear about the gloom and doom of what always happens here or what historically has happened," Karros said.

"I'll tell you what. From day one, Dusty has preached look ahead and don't look back."

A young pitching staff whose four primary starters - Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Carlos Zambrano and Matt Clement - all cracked 200 innings and had double-digit victories was one of the keys to the Cubs' first division title since 1989.

General manager Jim Hendry made a major deal in the offseason, getting Mark Grudzielanek and Karros from the Dodgers for the struggling Todd Hundley. After the All-Star Game, with emerging star Corey Patterson lost with a knee injury, Hendry did some of his best work.

In two deals with the Pirates, he acquired center fielder Kenny Lofton, third baseman Aramis Ramirez and first baseman Randall Simon, and they helped the Cubs go 19-8 in September.

"When you have a manager like we got, you can change and shuffle the deck a little bit," Hendry said. "You can add four or five new guys around the (trade) deadline and you know he's going to blend them in to the team concept.

"I knew from the first day of spring training that we had the right guy running this club."

The Cubs overcame their biggest distraction in early June when star Sammy Sosa was caught using a corked bat, leading to a seven-game suspension.

"When that thing happened to me, I wasn't in the best mood, but I knew we always had a great team and I knew what we could do," Sosa said.

Sosa also went to the disabled list with a bad toenail and survived an early-season beaning to finish with his sixth straight 40-homer season and ninth consecutive year with 100 RBI.

Prior spent time on the DL as did Grudzielanek. Both returned to contribute heavily.

Lofton gave the Cubs the pesky leadoff hitter and defensive presence in center they needed, and Joe Borowski, who spent 11 years in the minors before joining the Cubs two seasons ago, developed into a reliable closer.

Playoff history

• 1906, lose World Series to Chicago White Sox 4-2

• 1907, win W.S. over Detroit Tigers 4-0

• 1908, win W.S. over Detroit Tigers 4-1

• 1910, lose W.S. to Phila. A's 4-1

• 1918, lose W.S. to Bos. Red Sox 4-2

• 1929, lose W.S. to Phila. A's 4-1

• 1932, lose W.S. to N.Y. Yankees 4-0

• 1938, lose W.S. to N.Y. Yankees 4-0

• 1945, lose W.S. to Detroit Tigers 4-3

• 1984, lose NLCS to S.D. Padres 3-2

• 1989, lose NLCS to S.F. Giants 4-1

• 1998, lose Div. Playoff to Braves, 3-0