The Chicago Cubs are headed to the playoffs for the first time since the abbreviated 2020 season. They’re aiming to win their first postseason games since 2017. They hope to make a deep playoff run after a season of ups and downs that tested the team’s overall resiliency.
In spring training, the highest hopes seemed to be simply making the playoffs. After a huge first few months, motored by a dynamic and sometimes overwhelming offense, the talk shifted from merely making the postseason to actual World Series chatter.
Now, Chicago enters into the final week of a regular season that saw them struggle in the second half. A playoff berth has been clinched, but the hopes are once again modest.
But the explosiveness that propelled them to such an outstanding first half is still potentially there. The physical pieces, with the exception of still-injured star right fielder Kyle Tucker, are mostly all there, anyway.
The most bombastic of those potentially explosive Cubs offensive assets is sophomore center fielder and rising star Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Unfortunately, “PCA” has been more wick than dynamite these last couple months.
Before making his first All-Star game, there was legit MVP talk when it came to the 23-year-old. He had hit 25 home runs and registered 71 RBIs before the break, with a .265 batting average and 27 stolen bases. The kid seemed to be on an easy path to a 40-40 year, while delivering Gold Glove defense in center.
The fall of PCA
Then, things changed drastically.
Since the All-Star break (prior to Sunday’s game with the Reds), Crow-Armstrong is hitting .209 with just 4 home runs and 19 RBIs.
From August 1 to the present, he’s slashing a feeble .175/.230/.260, with a 34 wRC+– making him the statistically worst hitter in baseball among players with 100+ at bats in that stretch of time.
Although he’s turned in a couple of solid offensive performances in the last week or so, the downward-bound realities of his at bats are evident.
Chicago Cubs have no answers
Manager Craig Counsell recently interrupted a reporter with a terse “I don’t know” in the middle of a question regarding the reasons behind the young player’s struggles.
“It’s a daily question, and no offense to that, but I don’t know what to tell you,” Counsell said. “I have a hard time breaking down Pete’s swing every single day. Swing at good pitches. Hit ‘em hard. Use the barrel. That’ll work.”
Even more baffling is the fact that analysts are not really seeing any difference in the way opponents are pitching to him. Everything just doesn’t seem to be falling in place and nobody really has any answers.
What PCA still brings to the game
In the meantime, PCA continues to deliver in center field, playing an elite-level defense that, in and of itself, makes him a valuable asset. He’s also got the kind of explosive speed that makes him a major, potentially game-altering, disruptor when he does manage to get on base.
The bat needs to return, though. At least partially. If Tucker can’t get healthy by the playoffs or finds himself mired in another extended slump upon return, the Cubs will need Crow-Armstrong’s bat, as well as everything else he brings to the game.
At this point of the season, however, Counsell and the Cubs have no PCA strategy other than hoping for the best.
Chicago Cubs: Return of Kyle Tucker is now an ‘if’ and not a ‘when’
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