The Chicago Cubs are now one game ahead of the San Francisco Giants in the National League wildcard race with six games to play. The Cubs beat the Reds 12-5 on Monday and are now 88-68. The Giants didn't play Monday, they are 87-69 after going down to the Dodgers 7-4 on Sunday.

Recapping on the Cubs' progress since my last post:

• Chicago beat Pittsburgh 1-0 on Wednesday. Comment by George Kyroudis.
• Thursday, they completed a sweep of the Pittsburgh series with a 6-3 win over the Pirates, Greg Maddux completing his 15th win of the season. Comment from Al Yellon.
• Friday, and the Cubs beat the Mets 2-1 in the 10th after Ramirez earlier hit his 35th home run of the season for his 101st RBI. Here's the report from Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune.
• Saturday, and the Mets win 4-3 in the 11th. Back to Al for this one.
• Sunday, and the Shea Stadium series concluded with another loss, 3-2. Blame the umpire. Report from Mike Kiley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
• And back to George for his post on Monday's win over the Reds.

The Cubs are currently 14-1 with PaddyPower to win the World Series, level with Minnesota, Oakland and Los Angeles. Ahead of them are the Yankees (5-2), Cardinals (11-4), Red Sox (7-2), and the Braves (12-1).

Carn the Cubs!