Aside from the regulars:

Reds
Pirates
Astros

The Cards play at Arizona the 7th-9th Fri-Sun
Day off Mon.  then play 21 games in the last 20 days of the season.
They play the Phillies at home 3 games then Hou 4 games. The last week at Mil, 1 game at Mets, then finish at Pitt.
The last week Cubs play at Fla and finish at Cin.

Advantage Cubs

But the biggest factor to win this division will be the 8 games we play against each other.

I always thought Lou "gave up'' a little quick on both JJ and Murton in their early struggles...they really never got chance to play every day for weeks on end...similar with Izturis but we made the right call there even if get nothing no way could he match The Riot (our MVP this year along with DeRosa & Marmol as turnaround player).

Beating Cards 3 of 4 very possible hope it happens but there's a 50% chance or better of a split, maybe 75% chance (would be interested to see stats of 4-game series across baseball and how they usually turn out).

Of course it is Cubs-Cards so anything can happen!! Take it to them like we did in '03!

AGon hit a two run homer off brad lidge in the 8th to put the game and series away.  As he crossed home and the roar of the crowd started to die, a ripping explosion descended on wrigley.  I'm under the mezzanine cover and didn't catch any glimpse of an aircraft.  Instead, I thought someone had bombed the addison red line station.  Other fans were duckin, too, and more than one remarked about retiring the underwear they were wearing that day.  

There hadn't been any other plane warmups that day, and the air force sure made their presence felt at a helluva moment during the game.  Not only did it leave an impression on all the astros that were getting swept out of wrigley, it left me with another memorable moment from a season full of them.

I love when the Cubs are home for the Air Show, though watching it whilst playing Marovitz golf course is also very cool.

Why not?

In games we hit a home-run how many of those do we win?

In games we don't hit a home-run how many of those do we win?

He thinks that the Cards are "coming in at just the right time for the Cubs to show what kind of theam they really are."

So, we will all see!

Well, who are we as fans -- as fans, in fact, of the Cubs who are so very often, though not often enough, playing 'knife' games in which for heaven's sake if someone on the team doesn't catch that damned knife it's over or it will damned well feel that it's over.  

Al, I agree with Chuck that last night's game was not, in the strict sense, a 'must-win' -- but I agree with you that it was a knife game.  

Or you could pay homage to Mark Grace and call it a 'slumpbuster'. It seems like some Cubs could go for one.

Finally there's the 'don't make me turn the game off by the 5th inning game' (DMMTTGOBT5thIG). For those occasions when the pitchers seem to cough up any leads immediately after the offense rallied from 4 runs down, or the offense is handcuffed by a no-name rookie making his 4th start.

I thought another key at bat was the Eyre strike him out, throw him out.  At that point they were still up one, with a bad bullpen meltdown last night.  Great job by Scott today.

In the 10 games since Soriano has been injured, the Cubs have scored 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 12 runs.  That's right.  42 of the 52 runs have been scored in 5 games.  Based on those 5 games, one would think the offense is fine and dandy.  However, the other half of the games...10 runs.  Little to no chance at all to win half of the 10 games.  Interestingly, they lost 2 of the games they scored more than 3 runs (when they scored 5 and 9 runs).  

Sample size, Al!  People were ready to trade Zambrano for a turd early in the season and then people were ready to give him the Cy Young after 10 good starts and I'm sure people around here have been wanting him traded for a turd again.  Sample size!  

The Cubs offense ranks below average in OPS...well below average of any playoff contenders in the NL.  Their ERA, on the other hand, ranks well above average.  

What do the Cubs need?  Clearly...they need more pitching.  3 games of action is more important to consider and use when making decisions than 110+ games.  

I'm sorry, Al, if this sounds like I'm being an asshole, but open your eyes.  They've been at the top in pitching all season.   At the TOP!  They've been average to below average in hitting all season.  It's honestly not even difficult to figure out, Al.  

I'm not saying that improving the pitching would be stupid...any improvements are welcome, but it would indeed be stupid if they improved their pitching and ignored the hitting because of what I listed above...The Cubs are among the best in the league in preventing runs.  They're nowhere near the best in scoring them.  This is basic math.

How about calling it a momentum changer or simply a momentum game kind of like how certain innings are momentum changers?  Momentum innings are pretty easy to identify beforehand.  Usually they are when the team is down in a middle inning, your top of the lineup is up, and the opposing pitcher may have to be switched out soon because of pitches thrown, or his spot is due up in the next inning.  They're especially easy to identify if the opposing team has a strong setup / closer combo.  Does this analogy apply to games as well?

If they lost it, it would be that much harder to beat their next opponent who's the most formidable opponent in the division right now.   if they win it, then they go into the next series with a little more confidence.  

Absolutely beautiful.

Whatever happens this season it's been a great ride so far. The lows have been pretty low (not as low as last season or other bad low points) but the highs have been very high.

phat

phat

This is a good team, but its not great.  It might be good enough to win the Central and then who knows.  I'd be so much happier if another bat could be added  to solidify the lineup.  If the Cubs were in an other division in baseball, this lineup would not be good enough.  As it is, it may be, then hopefully luck could take over.  I'd rather not rely on luck so much though.

Glad the kid had a good debut.  Let's hope there's more of that coming.