Chicago Cubs May Have Easiest Path Remaining to a Postseason Berth

It's been almost improbable for the Chicago Cubs to be in the position they are right now. Once way below .500 and looking to sell their best players to continue building their pipeline, they surprisingly got red hot and forced the front office to become buyers instead.

The team continues to prove that was the correct decision as they are now in the final Wild Card spot, tied with the Miami Marlins and Cincinnati Reds.

Their standing in the playoff position could continue to improve down the stretch as well.

According to MLB.com, they have the easiest path of all the National League contenders to make the playoffs based on their remaining schedule. FanGraphs has their strength of schedule at .471, tied for the easiest in all of the MLB.

The Cubs play 16 games against last place teams Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Colorado Rockies. They'll also get to play the flailing Detroit Tigers in a three game series to start next week.

Chicago's trickiest part of the schedule comes at the beginning of September when they play their division rival Reds on the road in a four game series, turn around and host the San Francisco Giants for a series the next day and then welcome the Arizona Diamondbacks in for a four game weekend slate without a day off.

They'll also close the season against the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers during a five game stretch.

In a perfect world for the Cubs, they'll have already separated themselves from being on the playoff bubble by the time they hit the closing stretch.

Based on the opponents on their schedule, Chicago will be playing playoff baseball this season if they continue to play well.

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