The Cubs would like to win the NL Central. How much weight it carries to actually finish first this year is an open question.
“It doesn’t matter at all. Winning the division is obviously the goal, right?” Anthony Rizzo said Sunday before the Cubs’ 7-3 loss to the Cardinals. “But it doesn’t matter who we play. Any team can be really good for two out of three.”
This year, each league will send eight teams to the postseason. The first round will be best of three, making the start of the playoffs even more random than the best-of-five division series that’s already considered a crapshoot.