With no games that are important in the standings till Friday, I thought it might be interesting to take this pause and compare the Cubs' current standing position to where they were at the All-Star break in each of their four playoff seasons since 1945 (listing the primary contending teams only).
Today:
NL Central W L GB Milwaukee 49 39 -- Cubs 44 43 4.5 NL Wild Card W L GB Los Angeles 49 40 -- Atlanta 47 42 2.0 Arizona 47 43 2.5 Cubs 44 43 4.0
2003 (All-Star break after games of 7/13):
NL Central W L GB Houston 50 44 -- St. Louis 49 45 1.0 Cubs 47 47 3.0 NL Wild Card W L GB Philadelphia 52 40 -- Arizona 52 42 1.0 Los Angeles 49 44 3.5 St. Louis 49 45 4.0 Montreal 49 45 4.0 Florida 49 46 4.5 Colorado 50 47 4.5 Cubs 47 47 6.0
1998 (All-Star break after games of 7/5):
NL Central W L GB Houston 53 34 -- Cubs 48 39 5.0 NL Wild Card W L GB San Francisco 52 37 -- Cubs 48 39 3.0 New York 44 39 5.0
1989 (All-Star break after games of 7/9):
NL East W L GB Cubs 46 30 -- New York 42 36 5.0 St. Louis 42 37 5.5
1984 (All-Star break after games of 7/8):
NL East W L GB New York 47 34 -- Cubs 48 36 0.5 Philadelphia 45 39 3.5
Discuss.