Two weekends ago, the Cubs played their closest challenger to the National League Central division crown, the Milwaukee Brewers, in a weekend series at home in Chicago. The weekend began and ended with no changes in the Cubs’ win column, and at the end of it, Milwaukee was three games closer to taking the division lead from the Cubs, sitting two games behind them.

And as a Cubs fan, you were sweating.

It’s how it has been this year, the year after The Immaculate Year in Cubs history, when the Cubs were finally a winner after 108 and years. This year’s version of the team is not much different than last years, and yet, it has not looked quite like last years. For all of its talent, it’s a team that has just been lacking something that makes you believe another World Series championship- and the start of a once-bandied dynasty- is right around the corner.

My good friend Steve is as ardent a Dodger fan as I am of the Cubs, and with the 2017 Dodgers erupting out of the gate and setting win records, it seemed to me and to much of the rest of baseball-following America, that L.A. had a team of destiny. Rolling full speed through July and early August, the Dodgers amassed a win rate that suggested they would win a league record 109-110 games this season. But Steve is a cautious, cynical fan, and despite the good stuff he was seeing (rookie Cody Bellinger bombing opposing pitchers at a remarkable rate; stingy Dodger pitching shutting down opposing offenses with easy), there were lapses that occurred at times that gave him cause for concern.

At the trade deadline at the end of July, the Dodgers sought to strengthen their pitching and their bats in a few big trades (Yu Darvish, Curtis Granderson). And Steve was troubled.

“You don’t mess with the team’s mojo.”

And then the pitching faltered. Injuries happened. And then the streak.

The Dodgers became the first team in MLB history to win 15 of 16 games, and then lose 15 of 16 games, in the same year.

Their record was still a major league best rolling into September, but something was different in the team composure.

The magic was missing.

And that is a big deal, because as unscientific as it is, you can see when a team has magic- that crucial extra ingredient necessary to win the playoffs. Teams with magic pull out miraculous wins. They get out of horrible defensive innings. They come up with late hits and runs that turn an inevitable loss into a stunning win. And they make defensive plays that tell you they are hungry, keyed in, and driven to control their destiny.

After losing 20 of 25, Dodger wonder-pitcher Kershaw stepped up to stop the bleeding, and L.A. remembered how to win again, reeling off four victories before losing four after that- and suddenly looking very much like a plain ole MLB club.

“You don’t mess with the mojo.” There has got to be the magic.

It was a good sign for the Cubs last night when, down 3-2 in the 9th, with two outs already logged, Javier Baez was down to his last strike. A video circulated of the moment when a Brewer fan confidently played to a camera that the Cubs were done, that the Brewers were gonna win after this at bat- and then the camera went back to home plate, where what was expected to be a final pitch of the game happened- resulting in a game tying RBI single.

It didn’t hurt that closer Wade Davis followed Baez’s hit with a remarkable bottom of the ninth, handcuffing the Brewers after allowing them to load the bases, not allowing them to take the game. Those two personal efforts rallied the Cubs bats in the top of the 10th. Leadoff man John Jay doubled. Current NL MVP Bryant homered. Rizzo tripled. And the Cubs were up 5-3 in the middle of the 10th.

Davis pitched another half an inning, and closed the door on Milwaukee for a Cubs win. And put another game between Chicago and Milwaukee in the division standings.

And two weeks removed from a Brewer dash for the division title, you saw glimpses of the magic on this Cubs team.

At the right time.

You gotta have the magic in October.