Chicago Cubs: Why winning the division is so important this season

As of right now, the Chicago Cubs postseason chances are very high. While getting in is the goal at the end of the day, doing it via division win is very important.

Entering the off-day Thursday, the Chicago Cubs had a 95.5 percent chance to make the playoffs according to FanGraphs. Right now that is the highest in the National League. In addition to that, they have a 78.6 percent chance of winning the division and a 17.3 percent odds of going in via Wild Card.

The odds are very in favor of them winning the division, which has remained consistent throughout the season as they came in as the favorites. Second place Milwaukee has a 71.5 percent chance of making the playoffs and 19.1 percent to win the division. Again, following the same season trends as the Brewers were picked by a number of people to contend for a Wild Card spot.

The Cubs have roughly two months left in the season, with eight games remaining against the Brewers who, entering Friday, were just two games back of the NL Central lead. Those eight games can ultimately decide the fate the division if one team dominates the other.