Back on June 18th, the Chicago Cubs were at their highest point this season in the NL Central division. On the eve of Juneteenth, the Cubs led the Milwaukee Brewers by 6 1/2 games, their largest lead in the division this season. Obviously, the Brewers have since flipped that completely, and then some, as they currently hold a eight-game advantage over the Cubs. It was nine games before the Cubs beat them in the first of a Tuesday double-header, 6-4, this afternoon. How did the Cubs fade so badly? Well, the offense shut down, and that offense needs Pete Crow-Armstrong to be at his best in order for it to click.
Yes, the Brewers got insanely hot, and they’ve been on a ridiculously torrid pace since July started, but the Cubs more than opened the door for them.
The Cubs still, amazingly, have the second best run differential in all of baseball. It’s just that the team with the best runs +/-, the Brew Crew, also have the best record in MLB, and by some margin. Yes, the I-94 rivalry contains two of the best teams in the league this season, but only the Cream City Crushers look the part right now. Yet the best betting sites in canada do not have the Brewers as the team with the best World Series winning odds. The Los Angeles Dodgers are actually the consensus favorite, typically seeing futures priced around +300 to +350. Milwaukee is second, with futures that are typically priced at about +750.
The Cubs are way down on the list, usually being granted the 12th shortest of odds, in the ballpark of +1600. Why?
Well, the North-Siders June swoon (or a May fadeaway, or July goodbye) actually happened in August (nothing really rhymes with this month) this season. However, there is still a chance to get things right, and make a September to remember.
Crow-Armstrong has 27 homers, 30 steals, 79 RBIs and an .822 OPS on the season. He also had an insanely good .985 OPS from July 1-Aug. 1. However, PCA eventually hit a nasty slump From Aug 1 until Aug 15, he batted only.053 (2-for-38).
He’s hitting just .170 (with no homers and only 1 RBI), with an OPS of only .449 over his last 15 games.
In his last 30, Crow-Armstrong has a batting average of just .227 which is way out of whack with the All-Star season he’s having. PCA has become the new face of the team, and one of the top emerging stars in all of Major League Baseball. It’s not surprising that when he cooled off, the Cubs offense hit the skids. Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki can’t do it all by themselves.
And once the runs dried up, the Ls racked up, because this pitching staff is only okay to decent, not great. While closer Daniel Palencia is dominant, the rest of the bullpen has some potential to be as flammable as oily rags.
Now the Cubs have a losing record since the All-Star break, because out-bludgeoning people is how they win.
However, there is still time to get things turned around and salvage this season. The division race ended a long time ago, but they are still four games up on the wild card. And ESPN Stats gives them a 96.7% chance of making the postseason.
The Cubs play the second game of the doubleheader against the Brewers tonight at 7:05 p.m. CT at Wrigley Field.
Crow-Armstrong had a couple hits in the first game. They will then conclude the five game set with Milwaukee with Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon games.
On Thursday, the Brewers’ starting pitcher is Quinn Priester, a Glendale Heights, IL native who grew up rooting for the Cubs and modeling his game after Kyle Hendricks.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter