Silly me. I’m a Cubs fan. I’ve been a Cubs fan for more than 40 years. How could I have expected this to be easy?

I was actually dumb enough to let my guard down last weekend, after the Cubs swept the Pirates and the Brewers struggled in Atlanta. I actually thought the Braves’ comeback to beat the Brewers Sunday afternoon was some kind of sign. I actually thought it was all but over, that I’d be able to relax during the last week of the regular season and watch the final pieces of the puzzle fall into place.

Now it’s Thursday. The weekend is looming. The Brewers have taken two of three from those annoying Cardinals, who always seem to win when you want them to lose and lose when you need them to win.

And the Cubs — those lovable, exciting, completely exasperating Cubs — have dropped two in a row to the Marlins.

The standings are too tight. The magic number isn’t dropping nearly fast enough.

Could we really be heading right down to the final day? Could we, God forbid, even be facing a one-game playoff next Monday?

It might be too early to worry about such things. One game at a time and all that nonsense.

But still … still …

How could I have thought this was going to be easy?