Get hot at the right time. That's some portion of the battle. On paper, the Cubs' front office has done as many things as possible to field a playoff team, perhaps even one that's good enough to compete for a World Series **** le, but the difference between celebrating in October and going home emptyhanded is often whether a team is hot or not during those few weeks in the fall.
Based on how the Cubs finished August and have started September, it's fair to say they have spoiled a lot of golden opportunities.
They went 2-4 (and got walked off three times) on a road trip through Seattle and Arizona last week and then came home and dropped two games out of three to the Reds at Wrigley over the weekend. The Cubs have been a streaky team all season; they have two ten-game winning streaks and a ten-game losing streak this season, and although they aren't stacking losses in a row the past few weeks, the Cubs also haven't done anything to gain ground in their division or the wild card race.
"It's so cliche, but it's just game to game. Playing well and playing consistently," team president Jed Hoyer told reporters on Tuesday. "Obviously we've had some series recently that we've struggled. It's just more getting back to being consistent, winning series. We can't control anything other than the team we're playing tonight. We have to play well consistently. I think that's what has my attention the most.
"We've done that for large periods of the season. This late-August period wasn't our strongest and it's getting back to where we were at the beginning of August."

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