Four

It may have taken the Cubs' bats a few months to warm up, but they sure got hot at the right time.

The Cubs teed off while reducing their Magic Number to fore, um, four, while completing a weekend's sweep of the Pirates with an 8-0 win. Milwaukee, meanwhile, was busy losing three of four to the Braves gives the Cubs a 3-1/2 game lead with a week to go.

Compared to playoff runs past, the Cubs are storming towards the finish this time around. One of my favorite sayings of the Wild Card era has been "get hot at the right time", and that's exactly what happened. Ten over .500 is now the team's high-water mark of the year, and their 10-2 record in their last 12 games is tops among division leaders.

Carlos Zambrano picked up his career-high 17th win, giving him 30 decisions on the season, which Cubs pitchers haven't reached in recent memory. There are still people who want to brush him aside at 13 losses, but if you have a rotation full of guys who give you 30 decisions with four more ticks in the win column, your team's going to be in good shape. As we saw with the 2005 White Sox, dominant pitching late in the year and playing your best ball when it counts the most will get you towards that ultimate goal.

The Cubs finished the home half of the schedule with a 44-37 record, respectable, but about a third of the way down the league. Three over .500 on the road with only Florida and Cincinnati left on the schedule, however, ranks them third in the league with room to move up. If there's a lesson to be learned from the Brewers, if you want to be in the right place with a week to go, you can't rely solely on dominating at home.

I can taste the postseason, and I think the Cubs can too. Even though the Brewers will now host the Cardinals, who have been in a death spiral in September, the odds of Milwaukee making up three and a half games in seven days when they close with four against the Wild Card leading Padres are pretty slim. They're just not playing the kind of ball you need to play down the stretch when you're in a race.

Next up for the Cubs, Ted Lilly vs. Dontrelle Willis Tuesday night in Florida. 15-7 and 3.78 vs. 9-15 and 5.32. Sounds good to me.