But like he said, just heaving out W-L stretches, of any sample size, like that is proof that they will of course be good or great is just as flimsy as pointing to a stretch and saying that that's proof that they will collapse (which, again, nobody is actually saying except r_mack). Everyone gets that teams fluctuate between hot and cold streaks; for me, it's worrisome that even when it's on, the team's offense has some bizarre shortcomings that they can't shake off (weirdly incompetent with what should be relatively easy run situations, the strange lack of home run power, etc.). It just seems like it gets immediately dismissed that offensively the Cubs are seemingly more lopsided than a "regular" streaky good team would be. That sounds stupidly generalized and meatball-y, but I really don't know how else to put it; they seem especially prone to feast or famine, but the feast part of it is at a relatively micro level where their offense explodes for 1-2 games and then REALLY scales back for multiple games, even if they do keep winning. Maybe it is all in my head, but it just seems off that a team that IS good has gone SO cold SO many times, even in a game where the best teams have fallow periods. And I am super paranoid about the starting pitching, too.