CHICAGO -- Teams don't establish themselves as "the team to beat" on the basis of a regular-season series in baseball, especially one that unfolds over two chilly weekdays in the middle of June. Still, after a series pitting the past two National League pennant winners against each other, this seems like as good a time as any to point out that the Chicago Cubs are the Senior Circuit's team to beat.

They've wrested that mantle from the preseason favorite Los Angeles Dodgers, whom the Cubs beat 4-0 on Wednesday. The victory gave Chicago a series win in a three-game set that unfolded over 28 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday, thanks to Monday night's rain/blackout. L.A.'s only win came in the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader, and in that one, the Dodgers needed a two-run, ninth-inning rally against a Chicago bullpen missing its closer.

"I love it," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "Don't you love it? I mean, that's what everybody is looking for. We still hit the home run, but this field taketh away a lot. You could see it today with the fog blowing in. So we put the ball on the line."

It wasn't a bad series for the Dodgers. Their corporate playing style was on display, with take after take at the plate resulting in walk after walk. They pitched well and made few miscues in the field or on the basepaths. With better situational success, the Dodgers easily could have swept the Cubs. But even if that had happened, it would still feel like the Dodgers lack something in comparison to Chicago -- call it athleticism, daring or some other ephemeral trait that makes stat geeks roll their eyes.

Simply put, the Cubs do most everything that the Dodgers do as well as the Dodgers do it, but the Cubs' athleticism, bat-to-ball skills, willingness to hit to all fields, to hit and run, to steal a base -- all of this has created a separation between the two powerhouses. For now.

"Really big," the Cubs' Javier Baez said of winning the series. "They are hot right now, and they have a great team. Great hitters and obviously great pitching."

But this series is not why Chicago has emerged as the NL favorite, something that isn't immediately obvious from a glance at the standings. With the win, the Cubs were in a virtual tie with the Milwaukee Brewers, entering their game later Wednesday, atop the NL Central. Meanwhile, the Dodgers fell two games back of the idle Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West. While the American League has largely unfolded according to preseason expectations, it has been an upside-down first half in the NL. And while the paths of either or both the Cubs and Dodgers still could be derailed, nothing has happened to knock them off their projection-based perches as league favorites.

Chicago's array of strengths was evident during the matchup this week, especially on Wednesday. Kyle Schwarber homered for the second straight day with a shot into the wind that still reached the batter's eye in dead center. There was a successful hit-and-run, with Ben Zobrist punching a base hit to the opposite field against an L.A. shift that set up the Cubs' first run.

And there was Baez, doing what he has been doing for years now at Wrigley Field before a home crowd that adores him. Baez doubled to the left-field fence twice, then tripled with another shot that bounded away from Matt Kemp in left. Baez slid hard to beat the throw to third and looked like he had jammed his ankle or foot on the bag, though he later said his thumb was the problem.

However, a couple of innings later, after Enrique Hernandez's leadoff double, Baez snared a Justin Turner line drive that appeared headed for center field, then hurled his body at the second-base bag, reaching it just in time to double off Hernandez. He also stole a base and scored two of Chicago's four runs.

Seriously, have you ever seen a player throw his body around on the field as much as Baez does?

The athleticism of Javy Baez, on display when he dove to double up Enrique Hernandez in the eighth inning Wednesday, is one of the elements that pushes the Cubs over the top. Dylan Buell/Getty Images

"Chuck Cecil, the free safety," Maddon joked. "He just plays like a free safety. He throws his helmet, his whole body, out there all the time. But he gets back up, and he's got that flair about him. People want to come see Javy play. When his name is announced, the place erupts all the time. But he's always in the middle of something good."

The funny thing about Baez is that while his exploits leave his fans often thrilled -- and often worried because he's always shaking off an injury -- he says he has to play that way to stay healthy. Rationalization, it seems, is a powerful weapon.

"I do my best," Baez said. "I gotta play hard. If I don't play hard, that's when injuries come. I'm just trying to stay healthy the whole year."

OK, Javy. And Evel Knievel jumped over all those buses on his motorcycle so he wouldn't get run over by them.

Anyway, with Baez leading the way, the Cubs were all over the field defensively in the series. On Wednesday, Albert Almora Jr. made a diving catch coming in on a sinking liner off the bat of Yasiel Puig. Heyward threw out Chris Taylor at the plate in the third, with catcher Willson Contreras making a nice tag to complete the play. Contreras got a bloody nose for his trouble and, after pausing to collect himself, wheeled and fired the ball into the upper deck to a section of fans not used to getting souvenirs.

"[Almora] comes in and dives for one," Lester said. "I'm just like, 'OK, I'm done clapping for you guys.' I mean, it's expected now that these guys make these plays. It's fun. [For pitchers, it's like,] here, hit it, and those guys are going to run it down."

This is the kind of flair and intensity Chicago displayed for a full season during its 2016 championship run, but there is more evidence of this dynamism than subjective thrills. According to the baserunning metric at Fangraphs.com, the Cubs lead all of baseball in extra value from their exploits on the basepaths. Meanwhile, Chicago ranks third in defensive runs saved, a hallmark of that 2016 team. The Dodgers are currently below average.

"That's what we do, man," Baez said. "I'm not surprised. We tried to do our best for our pitcher. Great defense wins ballgames, and we know we're going to score runs for our pitchers."