It almost seemed guaranteed, right?
Four games into this season, back on April 8, the Cubs lost 3-2 to the Diamondbacks and fell to second place in the National League Central. It would be a brief stay. A day later they would be back in first, where they've been there ever since, a total of 142 games, an all-time team record. (Last night’s clinching means they should end the season with a 158-game run.)
Almost as important, our friends in St. Louis haven't been this far out of first in 17 years. So we have that going for us, too.
It’s downright historic. The Cubs haven’t dominated a division (or league, prior to the introduction of divisional play) like this since 1907, when, led by player-manager Frank Chance, they won the National League pennant with a 17-game lead over the Pirates. And with 16 games remaining, they could yet break their all-time record lead of 20 games, set in 1906.
To put it another way, here’s each individual season. Games ahead are in green, games behind in red. (Spoiler: there’s been a lot of red.)
What will all this mean in the postseason? Absolutely nothing. Past performance and future returns and all that jazz, and in the playoffs anything can happen. But it’s safe to say that, sure enough, the Cubs are the best team in all of baseball.