Quantifying Hope: Cubs at Nearly 90% Postseason Odds Heading into Weekend

You don’t need a graph to tell you how much better the Cubs’ odds are now than when we checked on them back in July, but the image below tells a great story. Even after taking a hit with the loss to the Diamondbacks on Thursday, the North Siders boast a nearly 90% chance at making the postseason after being at 6.3% just seven weeks ago. Pretty solid run.

They’re going to need to take care of business against Arizona this weekend, but having a 3.5-game cushion over the Marlins and Reds is helpful. Miami is without Sandy Alcántara for at least two weeks after placing him on the IL with a right forearm flexor strain and Jorge Soler is out with a right oblique strain. They finally lost after a six-game winning streak and their outlook isn’t great moving forward. The Reds have a pretty easy remaining schedule, however, with just three of 20 games against a team with a winning record (Twins).

Wouldn’t it be wild if the NL Central, a division largely viewed as garbage, ended up with three playoff teams?

The Cubs still have six more against the Diamondbacks and three with the Brewers, with six against the Rockies and three with the Pirates providing a little cushion. If all goes well, their three games in Atlanta will come against a Braves team coasting through the last week of the season. Regardless, David Ross‘s squad needs to keep winning.

They’ve responded well to adversity in the second half and now have a chance to do it again, which would further boost their odds. It sure would be nice if the Brewers could fall on their faces at the same time.