This time next Monday the Chicago Cubs should be in first place in the NL Central. As much as MLB would love to see the Reds in first, I think their 2023 run has come to an end, pitching issues have seen to that.

After completing a 3-3 road trip against the woeful Mets and tough Jays, they return home for 5 games with the worst of the worst. Baseball is funny because the Cubs lost 2 of 3 to the Mets, but turned around and took 2 of 3 from Toronto-who is a much better team.

Tomorrow they begin the second of two, two-game sets with the White Sox before an off-day and three with the Royals. The two have cornered the market on the basement in the AL Central. The Sox are 47-72 and Kansas City is 38-81 and don’t appear to be trending in the right direction.

As fans we like to think inter-city games matter as much to the players as the fans, but that’s naive at best. At this point, players should be playing for professional pride and spots on rosters for 2024. In 15 games against the team that signed and developed him, Eloy Jimenez is batting .364 with 6 home runs and 19 RBI but will that be enough to provide the Sox overcome their deficiencies.

The Royals are just a lousy, mostly-young team with no connections to the Cubs. They should be willing victims to the Cubs current push.

As important to the Cubs revival is the Brewers schedule for the next 6 games. The momentum of taking the past three games from the White Sox will have no bearing on their upcoming three-game series in Los Angeles. Two of the Brewers wins were of the one-run variety. A strong bullpen has been taxed by an underperforming opponent. The Dodgers are the antithesis of the Sox and are currently basking in an 8-game winning streak. Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts are firing on all cylinders, Clayton Kershaw is reasonably healthy and other players have been contributing to their first place record.

After Los Angeles, they head to Texas for three with the first place, Rangers. While the Rangers have seen their lead in the AL West shrink a little lately, their offense is phenomenal and have won 8 of their last 19 games. To say the least, Milwaukee has some uphill sledding ahead of them and their offensive inconsistencies force them to play perfect ball. Their margin of error is the thinnest of the 6 division leaders.

This is the sort of daily soap opera I recently posted about and love so much.