Cubs playoffs: What does best record in baseball mean for postseason? World Series?

In a methodical stairstep over two weeks the Cubs locked up the National League Central, home field throughout the NL playoffs and now, the best record in all of Major League Baseball.

The bottom line: The team with the best record in baseball usually doesn’t win the World Series. Since the beginning of the wild card era only four of the 26 teams with the top record went on to win the World Series: The 1998 and 2009 Yankees, and the 2007 and 2013 Red Sox. That’s 7 percent.

But don’t despair, Cubs fans, the best teams each season have winning records overall in both the division series and the championship series. In the division series, 15 top-record teams won and advanced to the championship series, and then nine went on to play in the World Series.

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