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Chicago Cubs' Epstein still preaching perspective

Far be it from Chicago Cubs president Theo Epstein to get too far ahead of himself.

While admitting to feeling "great" about his Cubs, Epstein has firsthand experience of what can happen to a team with a comfortable lead for a playoff spot entering September.

"I think once you go through a year when you have a double-digit lead before Labor Day and screw it up and you don't even get into October, you don't take anything for granted," Epstein said Monday, before the Cubs opened a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field.

"I guess that's the only good thing to come out of September 2011 for me, is I'll never look too far ahead and never take anything for granted."

September 2011 also might have been the best thing to happen to the Cubs.

At the time, Epstein was general manager of the Boston Red Sox, who had a 9-game lead in the wild-card race on Sept. 3, only to lose 18 of their next 24 and miss the playoffs altogether on the last day of the season.

A few weeks later, Epstein was being introduced as the new president of baseball operations at Wrigley Field.

Epstein's 2016 Cubs took a 14-game lead over the second-place St. Louis Cardinals and 14½ over the third-place Pirates in the National League Central.

"I feel great about the team," Epstein said. "I said all year it's a really nice feeling to have a group that you trust through all the ups and downs of a baseball season, whether we're 25-6 or whatever we were and everyone's trying get us to decide to go for the all-time wins record or rest for the postseason, or we can't win a game down the stretch at the end of the first half.

"Regardless of the way we're going at the moment, it's a group we trust. We really trust our talent and our character. The regular season usually turns into a meritocracy, and thus far it's been nice to see them rise to the top.

"Now we have to finish strong."

This is still a young group, but most of the players were here last year, when the Cubs won 97 games to capture a wild-card spot before making it all the way to the National League championship series.

I asked Epstein if that experience could help this September and possibly beyond.

Again, caution.

"I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves," he said. "It's helped them already down the stretch. Every single one of them had the league adjust to them last year. They had to adjust back.

"There's been another cat-and-mouse game this year, but now I think they're all a little bit more confident in their foundations and their ability to adjust. We've seen them all make strides on the field and off the field as well. Yeah, the experience is huge for them."

From here on out, the Cubs will make a few September call-ups from the minor leagues and contemplate going to a six-man pitching rotation to keep their starters fresh for what they hope will be a deep run into October, and possibly early November.

Would the season be a success otherwise?

"There are lot of different ways to answer that question," Epstein said. "The goal is to win a World Series. You put yourself in a position to do it, and you want to do it.

"So that's the ultimate barometer of whether it's a successful season or not. But for the 29 teams that don't, it doesn't eliminate all the accomplishments and all the progress and everything else that happens.

"Realistically, you don't back away from that to say, 'Yeah, we're happy if we don't win the World Series.' You can't back away from it.

"As (pitcher John) Lackey would say, that's the big-boy prize. That's why we're all here. If you're lucky enough to get into October, that's what you play in October for."

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