The postseason express? Hardly!

The Cubs' road to the postseason hasn't been the cliched long and winding road. Manager Lou Piniella prefers the express lane.

Unfortunately for Piniella and the Cubs, that road looked like your typical Chicago expressway in the summer: full of holes and construction.

The Cubs haven't made the postseason yet, although the exit ramp from the regular season is just ahead.

When asked over the weekend whether there was any one "turning point" to the season, most Cubs people preferred to talk in linear terms, of the season as a progression.

"I think there was just a normal transition period with Lou that I think everyone anticipated," team president John McDonough said. "People could point to the game against Milwaukee, the 'Ramirez game,' or the 'dirt-kicking game.' I don't really think so. I think there was a natural transition.

"I think this was probably a little bigger than Lou anticipated. Plus, you had on the roster 13 or 14 new players who had never played here before. And we knew that was going to take time. But we got past it, and we'll see where we go."

The Cubs go immediately to Florida, where they open a three-game series tonight against the Marlins.

Let's take a look at how they got to the brink of clinching the National League Central, focusing on the important "mile markers" along the road:

April 25: Cubs 9, Brewers 3

The Cubs were in last place at the time, but in that game Piniella replaced virtually invisible shortstop Cesar Izturis with Ryan Theriot.

Izturis was at Wrigley Field over the weekend -- as a member of the Pirates. Theriot is one of the team's MVPs.

Although Theriot didn't play every day at short since April 25, it was at that time Piniella knew he had something.

"There were a lot of things that happened here," Piniella said. "Those are part of an evolution of a baseball team. You make changes. Things weren't working early in the year. We tried to do different things to shore things up. I can talk to numerous, numerous things. There are too many, but certain Theriot's important."

May 30: Marlins 9, Cubs 0

Before the Cubs went out and lost their third straight to the Marlins, they held a players-only meeting.

Veteran Cliff Floyd cited it as important milepost when asked about it over the weekend.

"I think right after that meeting, we had a situation come up," Floyd said. "We lost the game right after that meeting, and somebody (a Cubs player or perhaps now a former Cubs player) leaked to an ESPN guy that we hated Lou. I think we came together and said, 'Listen, let's stay together here. If we're going to stink, we're going to do it as a unit, a team, family. Or if we're going to do well, we're going to do well as a family, and whatever comes out of this locker room will be brought to the attention of who said it.

"We came together. Things just started working out. Everybody alleviated the pressure. We said, 'It's just a game. At the end of the day, we're either going to win it, or we're going to lose it. So why go out there and put more pressure on ourselves to make every play be the ESPN play of the day?'

"As we kept going, we saw all the things that we thought we were capable of doing come out."

Ah, but the Cubs hadn't seen anything yet.

June 1: Braves 8, Cubs 5

During this game, Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano fought catcher Michael Barrett in the dugout. The two later scuffled in the clubhouse, with Zambrano sending Barrett to the hospital for stitches.

Zambrano went on tear beginning with his next start, and the Cubs dealt Barrett to San Diego on June 20.

June 2: Braves 5, Cubs 3

The Cubs hit rock bottom at 9 games under .500 (22-31). Piniella expressed his frustration by kicking dirt on third-base umpire Mark Wegner after a disputed call.

"I always say this because everybody wants to point out the day that Lou kicked the dirt on the umpire, and we had the fight with Barrett," general manager Jim Hendry said. "I just think that for whatever reason, there was a collective -- I don't know -- cloud hanging over all of us.

"It was kind of like, 'Enough's enough.' Everybody seemed to have had it at once. We really felt very good about the club going out of camp. We knew we would have to tinker with it. Lou's very good at that. He mixes things up and gets the right combo. But we never, ever felt like we'd be where we were, in last place at the end of May.

"I just think it was one of those where everybody, including the 25 guys in the clubhouse, looked at each other and said, 'We're too good to be putting up with this.' It was getting very close to another week or two being a situation you might not have been able to come out of."

June 29: Cubs 6, Brewers 5

Aramis Ramirez's two-out, 2-run homer in the bottom of the ninth against Brewers closer Francisco Cordero electrified Wrigley Field and moved the Cubs to .500 at 39-39.

The Cubs went into the all-star break at 44-43 before coming out 7-1 to start the unofficial second half.

At the end of August, the Cubs took two of three from the Brewers at Wrigley Field to go 2½ games ahead of Milwaukee. The Cubs fell a game back after an 11-inning, 5-4 loss at Houston on Sept. 11, but they've gone 10-2 since then to take command as the Brewers fell 3½ back after a disastrous weekend in Atlanta.

"It's just evolved," Piniella said of the season. "I don't think there was any turning points. We had to do some things to straighten ourselves and just let the guys play, let them go."