There’s an old adage in baseball that it’s not who you play but when you play them.

Meaning that even the worst teams get hot over the course of a season and the best teams have lulls where they aren’t playing at the top of their game.

It also works both ways – you could be playing poorly as a team at a crucial point in the schedule and it makes all the difference in a season.

Like the 2024 Cubs.

Teams very rarely make the playoffs without performing well against their own division.

After Tuesday’s 1-0 loss to the Brewers, here is where the Cubs stand against National League Central opponents this season:

Reds: 2-5
Brewers: 5-7
Pirates: 3-4
Cardinals: 3-6

That is a 13-22 record overall against the division.

Could it be that the Cubs are just a victim of timing?

“We didn’t play the Central at all in April and we were playing really well,” Jed Hoyer said Monday. “We weren’t playing the Central when we started playing well prior to the Break. We played the Central a lot in May and June when we were really struggling.

“So I think some of that is when we play teams. That’s one of the things we talk about so much in today’s game – there’s a lot more parity. There are very few teams that are at the bottom of the league and so much of it comes down to when you play teams – you play them when they’re hot or play them when they’re not.

“And I think unfortunately our pocket of playing the Central was a bad stretch.”

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As Hoyer said, the Cubs did not have a single series against the NL Central in April, when they boasted one of the top offenses in the game and put up a 17-10 record.

They won their first 2 series against divisional opponents – topping the Brewers and Pirates in early/mid-May.

But after that point, they lost 7 straight series to NL Central foes before splitting with the Cardinals in a 4-game set right before the All-Star Break.

“We have to play better against our own division, for sure,” Hoyer said.

[WATCH: Jed Hoyer provides his thoughts leading into the deadline]

They have a chance to pick up another series win against a divisional rival Wednesday with the rubber match vs. the Brewers at Wrigley Field.

Coverage begins on Marquee Sports Network at 12:30 p.m.