LOS ANGELES — It only took a few days away from each other for the fortunes of the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers to change.

Five days after the Cubs claimed a series victory over the Dodgers in Chicago [url=http://www.eaglesauthorizedshops.com/authentic-markus-wheaton-jersey]http://www.eaglesauthorizedshops.com/authentic-markus-wheaton-jersey[/url] , the teams will get together four more times in Los Angeles starting Monday night. It is a cluster of games that has brought a playoff feel for the clubs that squared off in last fall’s National League Championship Series.

Since they last met a few days ago, the Cubs went to Cincinnati and were swept in a four-game series against the last-place Reds. The Dodgers departed Chicago for New York, where they swept the Mets in a three-game series and also welcomed staff ace Clayton Kershaw off the disabled list.

While Kershaw is scheduled to close out the series on Thursday afternoon, the Dodgers will open against the Cubs with Kenta Maeda (4-4, 3.84 ERA) on the mound.

The right-hander lasted just 3 2/3 innings against the Cubs on Tuesday, giving up three runs and five hits in the Dodgers’ only win during the three-game series. It was his first career start against the Cubs in the regular season.

The Cubs will counter with left-hander Jon Lester (9-2, 2.10), who has won five consecutive starts, beating the Dodgers on Wednesday when he gave up five hits in seven scoreless innings. Lester is 3-3 with a 3.33 ERA in eight career regular-season starts against the Dodgers.

There is no doubting Lester’s roll. He has gone six innings in seven consecutive starts and is 8-2 with a 1.67 ERA in his last 12 outings.

The bigger question surrounds what type of run support Lester will receive. The Cubs have been sporadic on offense, and even while winning two of three over the Dodgers, they scored just nine runs in the series and five total in a doubleheader split Tuesday.

How do the Cubs turn on the offense as their eight-game road trip now heads west?

“I wish I knew the answer to that,” Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “The work is good, the preparation is good. It’s just how this game goes sometimes. Hopefully, we lock in as a unit and stay locked in for a long time.”

The Dodgers managed to score just five runs in their swing through Chicago but went to New York and dropped 21 runs on the Mets in three days.

Aside from their Wrigley Field visit, the Dodgers have been putting runs on the board with ease. They head into Monday’s series opener with 46 home runs in June, including seven on Sunday alone.

“I think that if you look back at our wins, there is a parallel with us hitting a homer and wining a baseball game,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Sunday’s game. “I just think as we are going well, we’re not trying to hit homers. I think we’re just trying to put good swings on the ball. When you do that with our guys, with the path of the bat, it’s elevated and that’s just the way our guys swing the bat. Those are good things.”

The Dodgers set a National League record Sunday for most solo home runs in a game and the seven blasts were tied for second most in a game in franchise history.

While the Cubs might be searching for offensive consistency as a whole, Albert Almora has no such concerns. He had three more hits Sunday [url=http://www.eaglesauthorizedshops.com/authentic-avonte-maddox-jersey]http://www.eaglesauthorizedshops.com/authentic-avonte-maddox-jersey[/url] , his ninth game with three or more hits, and is 14-for-40 (.350) in his last 13 games, with multiple hits in six of those.

Fresh off their first Super Bowl title, the Philadelphia Eagles arrived home to a hero’s welcome Monday afternoon, hours after overjoyed fans mobbed the streets in a sometimes unruly victory celebration nearly 60 years in the making.

Hundreds of fans greeted the team’s plane at Philadelphia International Airport, cheering wildly and singing ”Fly Eagles Fly” as Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie emerged with the Lombardi Trophy.

After getting off the plane, Lurie, Coach Doug Pederson and stars like tight end Zach Ertz and running back LeGarrette Blount approached the chain-link fence separating the team from the fans, smiling, pumping their arms and shooting video with their phones. Fans stood on cars and news trucks to catch a glimpse.

”It’s been a long journey to redemption,” said John Hall, 49, who works at Philadelphia’s public transit agency. ”We don’t have to hear the negative anymore, that we don’t have a ring. It’s official now.”

Dan Mazzoli, 53, a disabled construction worker and die-hard fan from New Jersey, shared the moment with his 12-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter.

”We’ve been waiting for this all our lives,” he said.

Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles, the unassuming backup quarterback who took over for injured star Carson Wentz and played brilliantly throughout the playoffs, wasn’t on the team plane. Foles headed – where else? – to Disney World, riding a float at the Orlando resort and fist-bumping Mickey Mouse amid a shower of green confetti.

”It’s all right to yell,” he told the cheering crowd. ”We’re world champs! We did it! We did it!”

The underdog Eagles won their first NFL championship since 1960 on Sunday night with a surprise 41-33 victory over the New England Patriots, ending a drought that had long tormented the city’s football-crazed fans. Philly was the only team in the Northeast Corridor to have never won a Super Bowl.

The city scheduled a victory parade for Thursday along a 5-mile route that will stretch from the Eagles stadium complex to the steps of the Philadelphia art museum [url=http://www.eaglesauthorizedshops.com/authentic-josh-sweat-jersey]http://www.eaglesauthorizedshops.com/authentic-josh-sweat-jersey[/url] , whose steps Sylvester Stallone ran up during ”Rocky.” It’s a fitting ending point for a team that Stallone had cheered on throughout the playoffs.

Revelers along the parade route will be able to indulge in free Bud Light at two dozen bars, thanks to a promise the beer maker made to Eagles offensive tackle Lane Johnson before the season.

Philly had some cleaning up to do Monday after pockets of Eagles fans turned unruly overnight, with rowdies smashing department store windows, looting a gas station convenience store and toppling a number of the city’s famously greased light poles. The police commissioner said he and other officers were hit with bottles.

The vast majority of revelers celebrated peacefully, and police made only three arrests, said Ajeenah Amir, a spokeswoman for Mayor Jim Kenney.

”Tens of thousands came out and celebrated this amazing victory, and but for a handful of bad actors, the celebration was peaceful and jubilant,” Amir said. She lauded police for ”their assistance in getting the crowds dispersed and people home safely.”

Just as Foles and the Eagles clinched victory in Minneapolis, the scene more than 1,000 miles away in Philly was one of jubilation and pandemonium.

Revelers shot off fireworks, drivers beeped their horns and Philadelphians young and old descended on Broad Street, the main thoroughfare that last hosted a major championship parade in 2008 for the Phillies’ World Series win.

”The city deserved it,” said 66-year-old Lou Potel, who threw a party at his home just off Broad before joining a much bigger party outside. ”It’s a great city, and now we have a Super Bowl to go along with it.”

Fans clambered atop the awning at the swanky Ritz Carlton Hotel near City Hall, jumping off into the crowd in what one Twitter post called ”Ritz Carlton Skydiving.” The awning later collapsed with a large group of people on top of it. It wasn’t clear if anyone was injured.

Nearby, windows were smashed at a Macy’s department store and at an Old Navy clothing store.

And apparently no amount of grease in the world can keep some drunken Eagles fans from climbing poles in celebration. A few managed to shimmy up traffic lights and street sign poles.

Amir said there were reports of some injuries from falls near light poles but precise numbers weren’t available.

Vandals were seen having an apparent food fight inside a gas station’s convenience store, yelling ”Everything is free!” and overturning a car outside a hotel. After 1 a.m., the only people allowed inside the 24-hour Wawa convenience store near City Hall were police officers.

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Associated Press writers Kristen De Groot in Philadelphia and Michael Rubinkam in northeastern Pennsylvania contributed to this report.