Enlarge By Mark J. Terrill, AP Chicago starting pitcher Rich Harden watches as the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate after sweeping the Cubs following Game 3 of the National League Division Series in Los Angeles. The Dodgers won the game 3-1 and advanced to the National League Championship Series for the first time since 1988. DODGERS VS. CUBS DODGERS VS. CUBS 2008 results | Depth chart | Season stats | Playoff stats 2008 results | Depth chart | Season stats | Playoff stats LOS ANGELES  Somebody at MLB.com did some fancy math and determined that, with all four baseball playoff series standing at 2-0, there was a 42.61% chance that at least one of those teams trailing 0-2 would rally to win the series. Well, turns out Math didn't do the Chicago Cubs any good in avoiding an embarrassing division series sweep against the underdog Los Angeles Dodgers. Geography was a bust for the Cubs, too. Home-field advantage? Pfft. Don't even mention History. (Last Cubs World Series title: 1908.) And, of course, P.E. was a nightmare, especially down the stretch Saturday night, when some Cubs batters maybe would have been better off not dressing out. But it's all over now. School's out for the Cubbies, unless they want to use their unexpected spare time brushing up on their Home Economics skills. Have a cool winter. See ya next year. How a team with the best record in the National League could flunk this badly and depart so early in the playoffs is a little mysterious. Or maybe not, seeing as how the Cubs were outpitched, outhit and out-fielded. So, in the bitter end, the Cubs did more cursing than curse-breaking. That's baseball. Teams go cold. Teams get hot. This was an extreme example, which turned the 84-victory Dodgers into a mismatch winner against the 97-victory Cubs. Both teams realized — one in a silent clubhouse, the other in one soaked in champagne and beer — that numbers like 97 and 84 meant absolutely nothing Saturday night. "What happens in the regular season doesn't matter," Dodgers catcher Russell Martin said. "I couldn't care less what anybody does in the regular season. We're doing it when it counts — in October." Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano, 1 for 14 in the series and a strikeout victim for the final out of the Cubs' season, had to agree. "We had the best team in the league, but we didn't play good as a team in the playoffs," Soriano said. "We had a good team, but we've got to get it done in the postseason." And there was this from Cubs catcher Geovany Soto: "It doesn't matter how many games we won in the regular season. What did it do for us?" Nothing. The swaggering Dodgers mashed the Cubs in Wrigley Field in Games 1 and 2 and then had all the runs they'd need after one inning in Dodger Stadium, courtesy of James Loney's two-run double off Cubs starter Rich Harden. The Cubs? They seemingly could have gone another nine innings and not come up with enough runs to win. That, alone, was what Cubs manager Lou Piniella said lost the series for his team. He'd seen it before. Last year, his Cubs were expected to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks and got swept, scoring one run in Game 1, four runs in Game 2 and one run in Game 3. This year, it was three runs in Game 1, two runs in Game 2, one run in Game 3. "I actually was concerned, to be honest with you, about our offense heading into the playoffs," Piniella said. Why? "Because of last year," he said. "My concerns was realized." Up and down the lineup. Soriano was the most obvious black hole, hitting .071 and failing to score a run or drive in a run. Third baseman Aramis Ramirez hit .182 with zero RBI. Really, only two Cubs —Derrek Lee (6 for 11) and Mark DeRosa (4 for 12) were the only Cubs hitters who lived up to expectations. "We just didn't hit," Piniella said. "I'm not making excuses. But you've got to score some runs. "We were expecting more. We played well during the summer. We won our division convincingly. And I thought we'd go further. But six runs in three games? You do that during the regular season and you're 0-3, just like in the postseason. "Look, if you score six runs in a three-game series, it's going to be another 100 years before we win a World Series." Quick, somebody run the numbers on a 200-year championship drought. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more