NL Central title mere stepping-stone for Cubs

CHICAGO — As good as baseball gets.

That’s how the Cubs have operated for more than 400 days now, with no end in sight.

When they clinched the National League Central title on Thursday night after the Cardinals lost to the Giants, it was a pinch-me moment for the adoring fans who packed Wrigley Field, even if it was more anticlimactic than dramatic.

• Shop for Cubs NL Central champs merchandise

We’ve known the Cubs were coming since they started their charge to a Wild Card spot in late July a year ago, and here they are, favorites to win their first World Series since 1908. If you listen to the players, you hear that they don’t feel like they’ve done anything yet.

“It’s kind of like, ‘Job well done, now let’s move on to the next phase,’ ” Jake Arrieta said.

Whether or not the Cubs go on to capture baseball’s Holy Grail this year, they’ve already marked themselves as a team that will be in the spotlight for years to come.

It’s not just that they’ve won 138 of their last 209 regular-season games to establish themselves as a powerhouse, but also how they’ve risen at the end of the massive rebuilding program launched by Tom Ricketts and executed with brainpower and discipline by Theo Epstein.

They hired their Phil Jackson in Joe Maddon and turned over to him a team of complete players who win with style and lose with grace.

Their front men are as likable as they are talented, and they all reflect the scouting and think-tank analysis of a front office that has found ways to stay a step ahead, first in Boston and now Chicago.

Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Dexter Fowler and Arrieta were acquired through shrewd trades or the Draft. Ownership provided the resources to augment the young core with free agents like Jon Lester, John Lackey, Ben Zobrist and Jason Heyward.

They’re a group of consummate professionals who look at baseball as a game, not as a business — and should they forget every now and then, there are role players like David Ross and Travis Wood to put a smile back on their faces. They’ve got so much talent that they haven’t felt the loss of young slugger Kyle Schwarber to a knee injury suffered in their third game.

In the fifth season since Epstein arrived from Boston, the Cubs have left the angst over 101-loss seasons, rooftop views and long overdue Wrigley Field …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com