Teams that go on Hot streaks late in the baseball season often perform the best in the postseason. We may take the San Francisco Giants as an example, because they have won three World Series titles since 2010 with late season heroics. You can look mediocre for most of the season, but you must start to look like a good team when it really counts. The Cubs are on fire again, and that could spell trouble for the rest of baseball.
The Dodgers are still great
The Dodgers are having one of the best regular seasons in the history of the sport, and they were probably hoping that the Cubs would not find the magic that made them brilliant.
The Dodgers were in line to win the National League, but the Cubs are so good right now that they could be a strong opponent in the NLCS. A Cubs and Dodgers NLCS would be compelling baseball to watch, and the series may be something that molds the eventual World Series champion. The team that gets out of a series like that would be battle tested before playing the American League champion.
Wasting the Dodgers' time
The Dodgers may be a bit surprised to find the Cubs waiting there for them in the NLCS, and they may play far too many games before going to the World Series. The Dodgers may well defeat the Cubs in the NLCS, but they would be depleted by a strong team from Chicago. The Cubs, on the other hand, have nothing to lose because they already broke their curse.
They are playing with house money, and they are in position to become a repeat champion that would stun us all.
The Astros slip
The Astros are slipping late in the season, and they have created a scenario where they will enter the playoffs not playing their best baseball. The Astros could fall victim to a streaking team like the Minnesota Twins, who have raced into the wild card picture with the Yankees.
No one really expected the Twins to have a good year, and they are showing that late season heroics matter in baseball. The Twins have waited for most of the season to make this run, and a mistake or two by the Astros could lead to very good fortune for the Twins.
The Cubs are favorites now
The Cubs look like favorites to go back to the World Series at the moment, even though the Dodgers have had a regular season that only the most creative individual could imagine.
The Dodgers hardly lose, but they are not the team with the hot hand. The Cubs have the hot hand, because they have built up their momentum to the degree where we must talk about them. The Cubs could easily prevail.
