Anything short of a sweep this weekend in Miami is a failure for the Cubs

This is the point the Chicago Cubs keep hitting, only to come up short. They reel off a week or so of solid play, pull within a couple of games of .500, and then backslide. Time is running out for this team to make its long-awaited run and it's going to take one hell of a winning streak at this point.

If it's going to happen, the next two weeks is the best chance this team has remaining, with a pair of series against the Pirates and one against each the Marlins and Nationals. Friday night marks the series opener in Miami and Craig Counsell's club needs to make the most of it.

The Marlins enter the series at 46-81, last place in the National League East - and the worst record in baseball this side of the historically bad White Sox. This is a team you have to beat if you think you belong in the postseason - period.

Cubs need to finally put it all together to close out the month of August

Kyle Hendricks looks to continue his recent improvement in the opener before Shota Imanaga takes the ball on Saturday and Javier Assad closes the series out on Sunday afternoon. Just getting over the break-even point for the first time in months could spark a run in this team and that starts now.

Despite an icy month from trade deadline acquisition Isaac Paredes, the offense has looked better of late - although they're still very much a middle-of-the-pack group. In August, the Cubs rank sixth in the National League in slugging percentage and fifth in long balls. They'll need that power over the next two weeks; paired with the rotation and pen, there's plenty of talent here. But, to this point, they haven't clicked on all cylinders at the same time. Now is that time.

The Cubs' chances are slimmer than slim - the longest of long shots. Fangraphs pegs Chicago's postseason odds at a minuscule 2.7 percent. The damage done by the team's brutal midseason stretch is, in all honesty, probably too much to overcome at this point. But to return to respectability, this group needs to close the year out hot and capitalize against a group of bottom-feeding teams heading into September.