The Chicago Cubs have had a few days off to regroup and prepare for the National League Championship Series, and they’ll get things going on Saturday night when they welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers to Wrigley Field.

The Cubs are in the NLCS for the second consecutive season, but they’ll certainly be hoping that this year’s edition goes a lot better than last year’s. In the 2015 series, the Cubs were unceremoniously swept by the New York Mets, as Daniel Murphy blasted home runs all over Citi Field and the Mets’ pitching staff kept the Cubs off-balance throughout the series. [[396422321, C]]

Now, the Cubs have a strong rotation of their own and home-field advantage in the series, and they’ll be hoping to make a big statement against a Dodgers team that has plenty of weapons of their own.

So how can the Cubs beat the Dodgers and move on to their first World Series in 71 years? We have five keys to victory for the North Siders as the next leg of their postseason journey begins.

1. Jump on Dodgers’ Starters Early

After Game 5 of the NLDS, the Dodgers’ bullpen will be well-rested for the most part going into this game, but their starting staff is a bit of a question mark, as Rich Hill was yanked early from Thursday’s game and Clayton Kershaw was used as a reliever in the contest.

To that end, the Cubs would be well-advised to force Dave Roberts into making changes early in games. That starts with Kent Maeda on Saturday night, as the Dodgers hurler only went three innings and gave up four earned runs in his only outing of the postseason.

If the Cubs can jump on him early and force Roberts into making bullpen maneuvers, it will greatly benefit Chicago in the series.

2. Take Advantage of LA’s Southpaw Struggles

During the regular season, there was one surefire way to stop the Dodgers’ offense: throw a left-handed pitcher against them.

The Dodgers had the National League’s worst batting average against lefties by a country mile, batting only .213 and registering a paltry .290 on-base percentage. They weren’t quite the worst team in terms of runs scored vs. lefties, ranking ahead of teams like the Phillies and Reds, but their offense was significantly worse when pitchers delivered from that side of the rubber.

The Cubs unfortunately only have one starting pitcher that’s left-handed (Game 1 starter Jon Lester), but they did add Rob Zastryzny to the mix, and they do have three other lefties in their bullpen. If they’re going to beat LA, it could very well be because of the southpaws that they have, and those guys will have to be effective in this series in order for the Cubs to win.

3. Keep Pounding Left-Handed Pitching

For as bad as the Dodgers were against left-handed pitching this season, the Cubs were one of the league’s best teams against southpaws. As a team, the Cubs batted .267 against lefties (second-best in the NL) and they racked up 59 home runs and a .807 OPS during the regular season.

Players like Kris Bryant and Jorge Soler feast on left-handed pitching too, and they should like the way the Dodgers’ rotation could potentially set up. Kershaw and Hill are both tough pitchers to hit, but the Cubs’ skill against lefties could come into play against those two, and even long relievers/starters like Julio Urias could be ripe for the picking in the series.

4. Get Key Players Going Offensively

It’s staggering to think that four regular starters for the Cubs batted .133 or worse during the NLDS, but that’s exactly what happened as Dexter Fowler (.133), Jason Heyward (.083), Anthony Rizzo (.067) and Addison Russell (.067) all consistently struggled to put the bat on the ball in the series against the Giants.

Fortunately for the Cubs, they did get some big hits out of their pitchers, including home runs by Jake Arrieta and Travis Wood, but that’s not going to be something they can continue to rely on when the series against the Dodgers begins.

Players like Rizzo and Russell simply have to get going at the plate if the Cubs are going to maximize their chances of winning in this series. Lineup protection is a bit of an overrated concept, but it’s highly unlikely that Roberts is going to let his pitchers give Kris Bryant pitches to hit if Rizzo continues to flail away at pitches outside of the strike zone, and Russell needs to find the form that allowed him to be one of the team’s better clutch hitters during the regular season.

5. Capitalize on Scoring Chances

In the same vein, the Cubs’ hitters need to do a much better job of hitting with runners in scoring position than they did through much of the Division Series round.

Granted, the team started to find its stride late in Game 4 of the series, but Game 3 was a great example of what can happen if you don’t knock out a team when they’re on the ropes. Down 3-0 after the Arrieta home run, Madison Bumgarner continued to struggle against Cubs hitters, but they couldn’t capitalize on several key scoring opportunities, and the Giants ended up winning the game and forcing a Game 4.

Going up against good pitching will have the unfortunate side effect of limiting the number of quality scoring opportunities a team has in the postseason, but that just amplifies the need for hitters to come through in the clutch, and the Cubs need more of their Game 4 form than their Game 3 effectiveness if they’re going to win the series.