After a stretch of dominant pitching against the New York Mets and Miami Marlins, the Chicago Cubs appeared to be on the upswing, sweeping the doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday. The series finale on Wednesday looked to be a sign of a Cardinals apocalypse, another loss by a Cubs comeback, to make it three straight losses at Wrigley Field.

Down to their last out against Pedro Strop, Cardinals All-Star shortstop Jhonny Peralta crushed Cubs’ fans hearts with a two out, two-run homer into the outfield basket. Just as it appeared that the Cubs were going to take three of four against the Cards, they had to settle with a disheartening split.

It is a common narrative throughout the season, losing games that should’ve been won and winning games they had no business winning. Losses against the Milwaukee Brewers and Cleveland Indians stick out. Wins against the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke were surprising. Blown saves scattered throughout the season also fit into the mantra of losing winnable games.

The Cubs are not a bad team by any means; they share the sixth-best record in all of baseball but still sit behind the Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates within their own division. In other words, even though the Cubs are a really good team, they’re just not good enough to keep up with their better rivals.

Being competitive against this high-flying Cardinals team is all you can really ask for, even if it seems like a defeated attitude to have against your biggest rival. The Cubs have been playing more competitive baseball against the Cardinals all year, even though the record doesn’t show that. Jon Lester took a no-hitter deep into the game before the Cardinals made the game look like a blowout. The first series in St. Louis was a back and forth, high-scoring affair. The Cubs can’t come up with wins to match their effort, but they’re almost up there with the Cardinals.

A weekend series against the crosstown rival Chicago White Sox might help fans forget about the tough loss. The Cubs have a real shot at sweeping the White Sox. The Cubs can potentially close out their long homestead with just three losses. The standings don’t give weight to specific wins or losses, and the Cubs are winning more than they are losing. The Cubs are still primed for the second Wild Card spot, even if they can’t catch up to the Cardinals or Pirates.