CHICAGO (670 The Score) -- The NL Central race has been a dog fight all season, and only a half-game separated the first-place Cardinals from the second-place Cubs as they entered play Wednesday evening. Behind St. Louis by four games also sat the defending division champion Milwaukee Brewers.
Since April 20, the Cubs have been between 3.5 games up or 3.5 games back of the division lead at various points. It's for that reason that president of baseball operations Theo Epstein expects the race to remain tight the rest of the way.
"I don't assume anything," Epstein said. "Certainly the teams have taken turns getting hot. In ours, it's been building up a little cushion on homestands and giving it away on the road. The Cardinals are in their hot stretch right now. They are pitching at a really high level. I think the best way to approach it if we learned anything from last year is someone may get hot and stay hot for the rest of the year. So that must be the standard for you now. You can't afford to play just slightly above-average ball the rest of the way. The only thing you can assume is you will have to beat a team that puts it all together."
Cubs manager Joe Maddon likes his squad but also doesn't assume
"There is no clear separator for me, except if we get toasty offensively," Maddon said. "If we stay with the same patterns, you will see the same patterns the rest of the year. I like St. Louis's offense. Milwaukee plays us tough. We just have not put up a three-week, wall-to-wall solid offensive performance. If we are able to muster the offense up, we have a chance to do some damage. If we do not find that offensive epiphany, you likely will see this same battle the rest of the year."
The Cubs still have seven games left against the Cardinals and Brewers.
"I would like to think it is coming together," Epstein said. "It is in our hands. We have a chance to go out there and play really well. You have to go out there and leave no room for doubt. We have to beat some really good teams. We have seven against both teams in order to get where we want to go."
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
