The wild-card standings are tight enough that the Cubs don’t yet know where they’ll be when the playoffs start in a couple weeks.
They know where they’d like to be. They’d like to be playing hosts at Wrigley Field.
But that’s not enough for this group, not after they got to experience a playoff series — and a playoff series win — at the Friendly Confines last fall.
After moving past the Padres in the wild-card round, they were dispatched by the division-rival Brewers in the NLDS, something that left a bad taste in their mouths and has served as fuel for their fire.
Fans’ expectations are always high, and a similar result a year later won’t be enough for them.
It definitely won’t be enough for the Cubs’ clubhouse.
“That’s what we all prepare for,” center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said Monday of bringing playoff baseball back to the North Side. “We talked about it last year, I talked about wanting to do that, and we did it.
“If last year is a result, then it’s got to be better. Now that we gave people a taste of playoff baseball again, it’s time to do it again and do it better.”
The Cubs won’t be bettering their second-place finish in the NL Central, with the Brewers starting Tuesday 9½ games up with only a handful of games to play. And their jockeying with the Phillies — not to mention the Padres and Diamondbacks hot on their heels — might mean a road trip for the postseason’s first round.
Of course, the Cubs won’t alter their championship-level aspirations because of the city they’re playing in as October begins.
“Does everybody want to play at home as many games as we can? Absolutely,” manager Craig Counsell said at the close of last month. “Are we going to shy away from a challenge on the road? Nope.
“That’s how we look at it, and that’s how every competitor looks at it.”
Counsell’s tenure as skipper comes with high expectations, given the big money the Cubs spent to lure him from the Brewers. He hasn’t been able to clear the hurdle of his former employers yet.
But new arrivals have seen Counsell as a tone-setter, of sorts, for this group, one that’s been focused and committed to approaching each day anew all summer.
“It starts with him and the preparedness that he has, the selflessness that he has, and making sure every guy on the team is put in the right position to succeed,” lefty pitcher David Peterson said. “I think that trickles down. It trickles down to the coaching staff. It trickles down to us.
“It’s something you can see from the other side. I saw it when I was with the Mets. It’s just a group that plays for each other. They stick together.
“We have 26 … guys that are pulling the rope in the same direction and are committed to winning as many ballgames as we can.”
The Cubs woke up Tuesday with the best offense and the best defense in baseball, showing they’re capable of doing what they’ve had their eyes on since the spring.
Whether they actually do it or not comes next.
Playing the NL East-leading Braves this week is beneficial, said lefty starter Matthew Boyd, with the Cubs getting a taste of the kind of competition they’ll face in the playoffs.
To win a playoff series, when the lights get their brightest, the Cubs will need to iron out their pitching issues. They might be as good as it gets with the bats and the gloves, but their pitching has been inconsistent. An at-times impressive group of starters has swung between looking like a playoff force and a playoff liability, while the bullpen is struggling to stabilize amid a late-season stumble.
But the team’s confidence? Not an issue.
“We feel good,” Boyd said. “This time of year, there’s always a lot of emphasis put on it, obviously, rightfully so. It’s right before the playoffs. But we feel good.
“There’s enough that we’re getting close to start clicking on, and it’s exciting. I still believe our best baseball is ahead of us, and we feel like we’re stepping into it.”