I walked Sport tonight and it was a pleasure to feel the brisk, chilly late September air against my skin and know … the Cubs are still in it.

I wouldn’t dare to predict how far the Cubs will get in the playoffs. Especially in a best-of-five, it’s kind of a crapshoot. Let’s say that the Cubs will definitely have to earn a trip to the league championship series, having to go through Atlanta, the team with the best record in baseball this year.

What gives the Cubs a chance is their starting pitching. Thanks to the clincher on Saturday, Wood will start game one and, if necessary, game five. Zambrano, Prior and Clement would each get one start in a five-game series.

It’s impossible to predict how effective each pitcher will be against the power-packed Braves, but there is at least a good chance the starters will keep the Cubs in each and every game. And if you stay close, there’s no telling what could happen.

The Braves have to be the favorite in the series, but then again it looked like the Astros were favored too. And the Braves appeared to be the favorite last year in the first round against the Giants, then led by … Dusty Baker.

 Yes!

As incredible a turnaround as these last two days have been up to this point (just before game two of the doubleheader starts), I think it’s crucial to the Cubs’ playoff hopes that they win this game.

With Zambrano’s status unclear, the Cubs rotation would be spotty to start a series against offensively powered Atlanta — just when they need it to be its strongest.

So if Clement can carry the Cubs to victory now, Wood doesn’t need to go tomorrow and can start game one of the playoffs Tuesday night. Starting off strong could go a long way toward making up for weak starters in game two and/or three in that short first-round series.

Winning the division, period, would be wonderful — of course! But winning it today would give the Cubs a much better chance to compete in the playoffs and go who knows how deep into October.

Go Cubs!

And thank you, Brewers! Thank you, Scott Podsednik; thank you, Wes Obermueller.

Sorry, Karen! It ain’t over yet, baby.

The rain is not gone. Check out the forecast for this weekend. It’s clear that God does not want the Cubs to win the division.

UPDATE: Today’s game postponed. They’ll play two tomorrow. Or they’ll try to, anyway. This is bad for the Cubs, I think. It is simply much harder to win two games in one day than win two games back to back.

It’s much more difficult to manage the bullpen. The players get tired, physically and psychologically. And these games are likely to be played — if they are played — in between rain delays, making things even worse. I won’t even get into how this wrecks the Cubs’ possible playoff rotation.

The Cubs’ success this year is primarily owed to their starting pitching, so it’s hard for me to feel terrible about a loss that came about because starter Carlos Zambrano fell apart for the second straight outing.

Sure, the Cubs’ middle relief put the game out of reach, but you win when your horses and when one of them gets tripped up, what can you do? Baker’s decision not to walk Casey in the eighth was egregious, but it didn’t affect the outcome. …

The odds must be with the Astros now, who beat the Brewers to tie for first. Their last three are at home (where they’re 15 over .500) against the Brewers (who are 26 games under .500). The only starter really capable of holding the Astros in check is Ben Sheets but unfortunately he is matched up with Wade Miller.

So it’s difficult to see how the Astros will lose this weekend. On the other hand, the Cubs head home to face a Pirates team they just barely split a four-game series with and which scored 28 runs in three games before Prior shut them down.

The Cubs send a shaky Matt Clement to the mound on Saturday. The Pirates hammered him for six runs in three innings last time out, and he has obviously been bothered by a groin problem.

And in a possible playoff tiebreaker for the division, the odds also favor the Astros. They’d be sending their ace, Roy Oswalt, to the mound. He’s 4-0 in September since coming back from the disabled list. He’s only given up six runs the entire month. And who would the Cubs have out there? Zambrano on three days’ rest? The same Zambrano who’s cracked the last two times out? Or … no … Shawn Estes?

Dusty, don’t do you do it.

Anyway, it was nice to see Sosa hit a couple of homers. Maybe he’ll get on a hot streak and carry the Cubs to the World Series. You never know. Also, it’s comforting to know I’m handling this better than some people.

Well, duh. Did you ever have any doubt that Shawn “L” Estes, the man with the 6.09 ERA this season would pitch a complete-game shutout and save civilization?

Of course he did, because this must be The Year. This won’t make me forgive Estes’s terrible year or Dusty Baker’s stupidity in running him out there week after week to get lit up in the middle of a pennant race, but he came through when it mattered last night. The Cub Reporter called it.

Sure, his shutout came against a bunch of minor leaguers who claim to be the Cincinnati National League Base Ball Club, but it was huge nonetheless. A loss like the 11 others he’s given the Cubs this year would have put them back even with the Astros for first. Now they stay a game ahead with only four games left.

Estes did the job he needed to do last night, and in superb fashion. Now we can only hope he never makes another start in a Cubs uniform. … Zambrano was roughed up last time against the Pirates. Hopefully he’ll be back in top form tonight.

Go Brewers!

Now you need to win to keep the us in first place clear.

The Minnesota Twins clinched the AL Central division yesterday, meaning the White Sox’s playoff hopes are now officially dead. Congrats to the Twins, who won 10 in a row.

For all the bellyaching about the Sox’s unfavorable schedule, they had their shot down the stretch to beat the Twins face to face and — fortunately — didn’t get it done.

And how about the Red Sox? A fantastic come-from-behind win yesterday now puts them 3.5 games up in the AL wild card race. It’s all over but the shouting.

A Cubs-Red Sox World Series? The odds are definitely against it, but even the possibility at this stage of the season is miraculous.