CHICAGO -- Winning the National League Central is the goal for the Cubs. No one from the team will deny that is the case. At the same time, manager David Ross made it clear Sunday that the club is maintaining a bigger-picture outlook.

The larger goal is to capture another World Series title with much of the same core that brought a parade to Chicago four years ago. Prior to Sunday night's 7-3 loss to the Cardinals, Ross had that in mind when he emphasized the need to tighten up some areas by the time October arrives.

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"It's better to be in first than in second, for sure," Ross said. "We've just got to get better each and every day. If we can take that mindset, it doesn't really matter to me that you win the division right now in this playoff format, or you come in second.

"You get in the playoffs and try to be the best version of yourself to win a World Series, whatever path it is that we take."

The latest defeat for the Cubs dropped their record to 23-18 and trimmed their lead atop the Central to 1 1/2 games over the rival Cardinals. After St. Louis swept a doubleheader on Saturday, its lineup tagged Chicago lefty Jon Lester for five runs (four via homers by Tommy Edman and Paul Goldschmidt) and chased him after 3 1/3 innings.

The Cubs and Cardinals will conclude this five-game, four-day series on Monday, and then will not see each other again until perhaps a postseason pairing. At the moment, Chicago would be the NL’s No. 3 seed in the eight-team field. Maintaining that position would create the possibility of matching up with St. Louis in a best-of-three, first-round battle.

"The three-game series will be very entertaining and very high-intense, on-edge," Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. "Not that all playoff games aren't, but there's no room for error. And it doesn't matter if you're the one-seed or the eight-seed, you're playing three games. And you better be ready to strap it on."

The Cubs are also fully aware that they have some issues to sort out over the remainder of the slate.

The rotation has been hit with injuries (Tyler Chatwood José Quintana), plus subpar performances from Alec Mills (7.66 ERA in his past five starts) and Lester (9.26 ERA in his last five). The bullpen has been volatile all season. The lineup's stars -- Kris Bryant and Javier Báez, most notably -- have slumped, though Bryant did have two hits Sunday.

Even Rizzo has struggled of late, though his solo homer in the first inning Sunday got Chicago rolling. Jason Kipnis added a two-run shot off Dakota Hudson in the second to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead that had the players in the dugout upping the celebratory rowdiness.

The Cardinals quickly quieted the noise.

"This is uncharted water, obviously, for everyone," Rizzo said. "With 20 games left, and you look up ... and you don't see the numbers you're accustomed to, your mind could start racing. We all are human."

The Cubs have been fortunate to have Yu Darvish pitching his way into the NL Cy Young Award conversation, and that Ian Happ and Jason Heyward (pulled in the fifth Sunday and sent to the hospital due to illness) have been on a tear in the batter's box. In the bullpen, Jeremy Jeffress has been a stabilizing presence.

To date, it has all added up to a spot in first place for the Cubs, whose position has been greatly helped by the 13-3 run out of the gates. That cushion might pave the way for Chicago's first division crown since 2017, or at a minimum keep the Cubs out of the Nos. 7-8 slots in the October picture.

“No one here will say we're clicking on all cylinders or playing our best baseball,” Kipnis said. “I think it's a sign of a good team to at least tread water in first place. Not many people can say they're doing that. So we're hoping our best baseball is in front of us. We've got some time to figure it out -- the good start's afforded us that luxury.”

Ross reiterated that there is plenty of work to do in the interim.

"The goal is to continue to play championship-caliber baseball every day," Ross said. "And I think that's what we haven't really done lately. You've seen spurts of it. Like, it's coming and going. But the consistency in that hasn't been there.

"And obviously it has to do with some injuries on the pitching staff. And obviously it has to do with we can get better in the bullpen, and we can get better on the bases, and we can get better on defense, and we've got to hit better. There's so many things that we have to improve on."