Week In Review: Cubs Mean Business As Tokyo, Dodgers Come Calling

You might not realize it, but the optics of what the inside of a team's clubhouse is like can be just as important as what it's actually like. With the Cubbies' final boarding call for Tokyo approaching, the view is as vibrant as the rising sun over Mount Fuji.

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This week, as expected, the winning ways the North Siders have enjoyed nearly the entirety of spring subsided ever so briefly. Not only did they pick back up in front of record-setting crowds at Sloan Park, but we also witnessed a team and its message galvanize. The message? Cubs baseball and playoffs will soon be synonymous. Craig Counsell expects it, and that's the rallying cry for a squad that has left its legions of faithful supporters empty-handed for far too long.

Remarkable talent and skill do not often, or even seldomly, translate into results for baseball clubs aspiring to reach the game's highest heights. Still, I'm observing the traits of this team that suggest that not an ounce of what it possesses will go to waste. You know I'm staunch for pitching as an intangible "X Factor," and the North Siders have it. The organization's former number-one prospect, Cade Horton, looks more confident, mature, and torched batters this week with lethal off-speed pitches. His health and efficiency out of the bullpen arms this club with the peace of mind it was missing last season in close contests. We also got looks at Matthew Boyd, Ryan Pressly, and this gentleman named Shota Imanaga, who you may know as his alter ego, Mike.

Chicago's day-one Tokyo starter totes a sweeper that cleans up more than a custodian. Imanaga may not boast the youth that some of this squad's future starters do, but the control he is known for is well-situated and primed to put his ball club in position to win many games.

Offensively, the hits kept coming. Droves of baseball fans are lined up at this very moment to get into Pete Crow-Armstrong's coming out party, and with a two-homer game against the Mariners, that guest list is likely to grow. Even though the man admits that he is more focused on reaching base than hitting for power, it's clear that the Cubs' young center fielder is poised to deliver whatever his squad needs.

Three more tune-up games remain before the Cubbies touch down in Japan to battle the vaunted Los Angeles Dodgers. If ever there was a time to feel confident our favorite baseball team could blow for blow with the defending World Series champions, it's now. Perhaps the Cubs will soon have a similar moniker next to their name.