After another excellent weekend of baseball, the Chicago Cubs are one of the hottest teams in baseball as September begins.

The Cubs have been on a roll lately, having won their last five series, going back as far as August. You have to go all the way back to when Chicago played the Cleveland Guardians to find a series they didn’t win.

The Cubs seem to be getting better lately, as after sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates early in the week, they followed that up with a sweep of the Washington Nationals over the weekend. Even though those two teams aren’t in the playoffs, Chicago is beating the teams they’re supposed to be beating, and beating them convincingly.

The Cubs’ offense has been on a roll lately, scoring double-digit runs three times in their last six games. Chicago’s hot streak has helped them climb significantly in the National League Wild Card standings, and it doesn’t look like they’ll be looking back anytime soon.

According to Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report, the Cubs have moved up three spots to 14th in his MLB Power Rankings.

“It’s becoming easier to imagine the Cubs blowing past the Mets and the Braves. After winning six games in a row last week, they’ve now won 20 of their last 28.”

“Maybe it’s the Taylor Swift candle. Or maybe this is just what happens when a previously underperforming offense gets going. The Cubs have scored at least 14 runs in four of their last eight games. Only two other teams have scored more than 14 runs that many times this year.”

Now that September is here, the Cubs will be playing home series against the Pirates and New York Yankees. The Cubs are now five games above .500, but after just sweeping Pittsburgh, they’re hoping to do it again.

As for the series against the Yankees, New York has not been playing their best baseball lately and given how well Chicago has played, it looks like this series is winnable.

Overall, the schedule favors the Cubs in the final stretch. While the NL Wild Card race is extremely competitive, the Cubs are playing great baseball right now, with a lineup that is among the best in baseball.

The rise in the standings is well deserved and the Cubs now look for a way to reach the playoffs.