Karl Ravech joins Scott Van Pelt to explain his thoughts on the current playoff race, how well put together the Cubs are and the situation going on with Yasiel Puig and the Dodgers. (3:18)

CHICAGO -- If the target painted on the Chicago Cubs faded just a touch before the All-Star break, when they briefly lost ownership of the best record in baseball, it reappeared with the addition of closer Aroldis Chapman. This is once again the team to beat, just as it was about five months ago when manager Joe Maddon said they would embrace the high expectations.

"We’re in a good position," right fielder Jason Heyward said Wednesday before the team headed out on the road. "And a good mental state. We’re getting everyone’s best every night, it feels like. That’s what you want. You want to be challenged."

If they weren’t challenged before, they will be from here on out, especially after hearing starting pitcher John Lackey speak. It’s not that he’s providing bulletin-board material, he’s simply raising the bar so high that there’s only one way this season can be judged a success: "We’re here to win a World Series," Lackey began on Wednesday, delivering the makings of an instantly famous quote. "I didn’t come here for a haircut. We’re trying to get it on. I came here for jewelry."

Talk like that might carry the Cubs through August and all the way to October, but their sparkling 13-6 second-half record will be tested this month with two West Coast trips on tap, including one this weekend in Oakland. They’re bound to hit a rough patch again before the final stretch.

"Before the All-Star break we weren’t playing good baseball," Jon Lester said. "That’s when you start looking behind you. I think this team does a good job of staying the course. ... We’ll take the one-game approach."

If the Cubs are going to "embrace the target" over the next month as Maddon has had them doing since spring training, at least they’re going to do it with rest. Maddon has a belief about August, which is different from how he views the final month of the season: This is not the time to push players, even as the division races heat up. It’s the time to back off.

Cubs manager Joe Maddon's philosophy on getting through August: "It's not about extra work. It's about extra rest ..." Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

"This is the time of the year, man, I think not being on the field too much, [no] batting practice, coming to the ballpark later, all those different things matter right now," Maddon said recently. "It's not about extra work. It's about extra rest, as far as I'm concerned. You have to have a fresh mind in order to really play well."

Maybe a nine-game lead in the division and a deep roster make it easier on Maddon this season, but he had the same philosophy last year when the Cubs were chasing the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League Central. He didn’t put the pedal to the medal last August -- in fact he did the opposite. Hot and humid games combined with teammates entering their seventh month together can make for a long 31 days.

"This is where tempers flare," first baseman Anthony Rizzo joked. "We start not liking each other as much. We just need to keep going. Keep your head down one day at a time."

The one-game approach is how most teams get out of a funk, but in the Cubs' case, getting rest at the break did the trick for them. Going a day at a time now is probably best simply because, besides getting the other team’s best effort, the Cubs don’t have as much to play for. Of course they need to maintain their lead in the division, but it’s not as though St. Louis or Pittsburgh is breathing down their necks. August will be about challenging themselves as much as being challenged.

Having said that, Maddon should keep an eye on the National League’s other division leaders. The team with the best record plays the wild-card winner, and though last year’s wild-card Cubs knocked out the division-winning Cardinals, it’s still desirable to play a team in a best-of-five series that has probably just had to pitch its ace in the wild-card game. As the division leaders this time around, the Cubs have been the hunted this year, the reverse of last season.

"When we play other teams, we do get their best," catcher Miguel Montero said. "Sometimes they press a little bit, like trying to do too much. Sometimes it works for them and they raise their game, but they can also get in trouble. Trying too much can be bad, and we’ve taken advantage."

Being the team that is everyone else’s target can work for and against the Cubs. Their 66-41 record says it has worked mostly in a good way. As long as the dog days of August don’t get to them, they should be fine heading into the stretch run -- target or no target.

"August is tough whether you’re fighting uphill or the position we’re in," Lester said. "If you stay focused on you, it’s not too hard."

The Cubs have been focused on themselves since bowing out in the NL Championship Series last season. They exorcised demons against the Pirates and Cardinals -- especially St. Louis -- during last year’s playoffs, and have maintained this year was just a continuation of that success.

Except now they have the best team in baseball, and every expert is picking them to win it all -- and that was before adding Chapman. Or Lackey declaring it’s World Series or bust.

"We’ve been there the whole year," Montero said, shaking his head. "Nothing has changed. They’re all coming for us."

So for now, this isn’t about the next two months and then the postseason. It’s about the next 27 days, taken one day at a time. Maddon isn’t stressing anything but staying fresh. The standings will take care of themselves.

"I think you still have to fight to get through August a bit," Maddon said. "You still have to be mindful of giving people rest. Getting people in and out of there, you design this whole month with that in mind. Having a couple of off days is going to be very, very helpful. Beyond that, I think September creates its own energy. This next 30 days will be the 30 to really make sure that we stay the course, play as well as we have. Rest people and continue to build into that September moment."

With that target still squarely on their backs.