It is late August and there are only 10 MLB teams (more or less) with winning records.

The Phillies are one of those teams. In fact, since Don Mattingly took over, they have played .600 ball and had the second-best record in baseball. They've been even better since Arráez came to town.

Can't complain about that, right?

Well...

There is one point of concern. The Phillies are a streaky team and have run hot and cold all season.

They have had a 9-game winning streak and a 10-game losing streak. In fact, the Phils have had 8 winning streaks of 4 or more games, and 3 losing streaks of 4 or more games. All in all, 56 of the Phils' 132 games (nearly 38%) have taken place during one of those 11 streaks.

Indeed, 76 of the Phils' 132 games (nearly 58%) have taken place during 6-game stretches where the team either won at least 5 of 6 games, or lost at least 5 of 6 games.

Being hot is great, and the Phillies certainly are. They have MLB's best record in August.

But the mark of a true champion is not just about being hot at the right time. It's about knowing how to shake off a loss quickly and come back strong. Go into a postseason slump and you're gone.

If the past few weeks are any indication, the Phils could find themselves rolling into the playoffs and maybe even repeating as NL East champs. However, if they go on another 4-game losing streak in October, it will be "Sayonara" all over again.

That would bother us, of course, but only a little. Because for the first time in a while, we have three other bandwagons to jump on - the green one, the blue one, and the orange one.