As recently as August 6, the Chicago Cubs were atop the NL Central standings. Now, just 14 days and 12 games later, the Cubs are six games behind the St. Louis Cardinals and most people have all but written off the rest of their season.

I’ll admit, it’s been tough to stay positive lately. The Cubs are 4-9 in their last 13 games, just dropped two of three to the lowly San Diego Padres and things aren’t going to get any easier; today they head up the coast to Chavez Ravine for a four-game series with the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers. As of this morning, Baseball Prospectus is giving the North Siders just a 12% chance to make the postseason. Radio stations, blogs and newspapers have gone from playoff watch to suicide watch, pointing fingers and placing blame for the team’s downfall well before the season is over.

Injuries, attitudes, slumps and Kevin Gregg have made this one of the most inconsistent (but consistently disappointing!) Cubs teams in years. But before we stash our Cubs’ gear in the closet and pull out our Bears and Blackhawks jerseys, let’s take an honest look at the situation. There are 44 regular season games remaining. In the past two weeks–just 12 games–the team went from first place to six back. If the North Siders go on a run and the Cardinals hit a rough patch, their positions in the standings could very well be reversed come early September. After their series with the Dodgers, five out of Cubs’ next six series are against the tragic Nationals, the pitiful Mets (twice!), the AAA Pirates and the inexplicably bad Reds. For the season, the Cubs have just two more series against teams above .500 (St. Louis and San Francisco) and one make-up game with the White Sox, (62-59).

Time and time again, the baseball gods have shown us how quickly teams can turn things around or play themselves right out of things. The talent on this Cubs club is too great to go softly into that good night. So while everyone else argues over who’s to blame for the team’s inevitable failure, I’ll turn a blind eye to the negatvity and continue hoping for that big run we’ve been waiting for all season. After all, blind faith is the North Sider’s way.