After a stretch of 17 consecutive games in the city, the Chicago Cubs will hit the road this week as they face down their final West Coast road trip of the regular season.

In the six games that they will play, the Cubs will be taking on two teams with big-time October aspirations, with the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants first up on the docket and the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers to follow over the weekend.

The Cubs have put themselves into great position with their recent winning ways, building up a six and a half game lead over the Giants for the second wild card spot in the National League heading into Tuesday night’s game. Their series against San Francisco not only gives them a chance to prove that they can continue to win games in tough road environments, but more importantly it gives them the opportunity to drive a nail into the Giants’ postseason chances.

The road to get to that point won’t be easy.

The Cubs were able to avoid facing Giants ace Madison Bumgarner when the two teams met at Wrigley Field earlier this season, but they won’t be as lucky this time as they will face the 15-game winner on Thursday afternoon at AT&T Park. They will also face a struggling Matt Cain and a streaky Jake Peavy in the series, but with the GIants playing desperate baseball as they try to keep their postseason hopes alive, things will be extra tough for the Cubs.

Complicating matters in the series are the cavernous dimensions that the Giants’ home stadium possesses.

The Cubs’ outfield defense was already suspect before Jorge Soler went down with an oblique injury earlier this week, and things don’t improve much with Kyle Schwarber still learning the ropes in left field and Chris Coghlan taking over duties in right. Having Dexter Fowler in center field does help to a degree, but the Cubs are going to have a difficult time hiding their lackluster outfield defense away from the cozy confines of Wrigley Field.

Despite those obstacles, the Cubs do have a few advantages going into the series.

Their offense is getting contributions from all over the place in recent games, with guys like Coghlan and Anthony Rizzo picking up the slack for a struggling Schwarber at the plate. Add to that the exploits of Kris Bryant in recent games (he has hit three home runs over the Cubs’ last two contests), and the team is in prime position to make some noise against the Giants.

The Cubs will also get some favorable conditions for two pitchers that sorely need a boost.Kyle Hendricks is an ineffective hurler when he can’t locate his pitches, but pitching at AT&T Park will give him significantly more wiggle room than Wrigley Field has offered of late, and fly ball-heavy hurler Dan Haren will get a similar edge when he pitches on Thursday.

When the Cubs head down to Dodger Stadium for a weekend set, they will not only be looking to keep winning ball games, but they could also be looking at knocking off a team that could potentially serve as an obstacle to winning the wild card this season.

The Dodgers’ lead over the Giants in the NL West has shrunk to just one and a half games, and if they are overtaken, they could be looking to crawl back into the race against the Cubs.

In terms of pitching matchups, the Cubs will get to avoid Zack Greinke, who is slated to pitch Thursday in Cincinnati, but they will likely have to face Dodgers’ ace Clayton Kershaw, who is putting together a Cy Young-caliber season. The Cubs will get to counter with their two workhorses in the rotation however, as Jon Lester will pitch on Saturday for the north siders and Jake Arrieta will pitch the road trip finale on Sunday.

The Cubs are also catching the Dodgers at a good time in the schedule, as Los Angeles has been struggling to put runs on the board in recent games.

During their ongoing five game losing streak, the Dodgers have scored just nine runs, and they’ve had to make some drastic changes as starting center fielder (and potential rival of Bryant in Rookie of the Year balloting) Joc Pederson has been benched by manager Don Mattingly.

With all of those things going on in Chavez Ravine, the Cubs could be looking to take advantage of a reeling Dodgers team when they head down the California coast for the weekend.

Neither series will be easy for the Cubs by any stretch, but the mission is crystal clear: if they can come out of the road trip with a .500 record, and especially if they can win at least one game against the Giants in their series in San Francisco, then they will make it incredibly difficult for either team to catch them in the wild card standings.

With the way this team has responded to these types of opportunities in recent weeks, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Cubs immediately go for the jugular in this crucial six-game stretch.