In week 17, the Cubs won five of seven, including four straight to end the week. That swelled their division lead to 6½ games with just over 50 games remaining. Excitement in Chicago was growing by the day as it looked, at long last, as if the Cubs would get back to the postseason for the first time since their World Series appearance in 1945.
But, there was still a lot of baseball left to be played. One daunting aspect of the remaining 50+ games was the road trip that starts in week 18.