The Cubs’ last 14 games have all been against teams with winning records, with three of them being postseason contenders. They went 7-7 through that stretch and though they lost three games of their division lead, they remain in first place in the N.L. Central.
I won’t say this is an “easy” series for the Cubs because no baseball team should go into a series thinking that way. Clearly, though, the last-place Reds aren’t as good a ballclub as the four (Braves, Phillies, Nationals, Brewers) the Cubs have just finished playing. On the other hand, the Reds have Joey Votto available for this series, and he didn’t play in the four-game sweep the Cubs handed the Reds last month.