CHICAGO — It would have been understandable to write off the Cubs after they went down two games to none in the NL Division Series to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Winning three games in a row against the best team in baseball with question marks with your pitching staff and offense? That’s not exactly the formula you want in October.

But the Cubs left Milwaukee with a simple mindset: break it down to winning the next pitch and let whatever happens happen. That’s led to two wins that evened up the series and has sent the Cubs 90 miles north to play a winner-take-all game at American Family Field.

[MORE: How Wrigley Field crowd made difference in Cubs’ NLDS Game 4 win over Brewers]

“It’s what we love about this game,” Cubs catcher Carson Kelly said. “Every day’s a new day.

“We get another ticket to the dance. Anything can happen, and we’re gonna enjoy every moment of it.”

[READ: How Cubs’ Drew Pomeranz went from unknown to key October bullpen piece]

The last two games were reminiscent of the Cubs that won 92 games in the regular season. They had solid starting pitching, they had timely hits and the bullpen shut the door. In Thursday’s 6-0, Game 3 win, the offense had an offensive explosion, with Kyle Tucker, Michael Busch and Ian Happ all homering.

“I feel like it’s an even slate,” Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner said. “Game 5, both teams have had great moments in this series. I love where our group’s at. We’ve played well in all phases of the game today.

“It’s something that we take pride in and definitely looking to do that again in Game 5.”

[MORE: Cubs share pitching plan for winner-take-all Game 5]

And the Cubs go into the game with the added experience of facing elimination three times already this postseason.

“Good resiliency, ability to have urgency without it creating panic or take you out of the things that have gotten you to this point,” Hoerner said. “I think that’s brought the best out of us, which is a really telling sign about our group’s collective heartbeat. Just impressive stuff from everyone.”

Now they’ll have another stiff test. American Family Field will be rocking, and the environment will cause pressure – for both teams.

“Loud ballpark with noise from both fanbases there,” Hoerner said. “Even regular season games there are pretty loud. Obviously, the atmospheres were great for the first two games as well. Every day of the series has been an amazing thing to be a part of.”

[How Matthew Boyd anchored Cubs in dominant NLDS Game 4 win vs. Brewers]

For the Cubs, it’s about narrowing it down and not letting the moment become too big. Shrinking it down to the next pitch and trying to win that, nothing more. Essentially what they’ve done all year and what they did when they boarded a bus from Milwaukee back to Chicago earlier this week.

“It’s just gonna be an all-out competition,” Dansby Swanson said. “Everything they got, everything we got. We just gotta continue to play good ball. We gotta continue to pitch, play good defense and have timely hitting.

“I think we’re well-suited to go up there and play good ball and we just gotta do it.”