The Cubs and Pete Crow-Armstrong insist everything is fine: 'I don't think there's any worry in the world.'
Pete Crow-Armstrong's MVP campaign continues to lose steam. The clamoring for a Kyle Tucker contract extension has certainly died down. An underwhelming trade deadline exposed some weaknesses in Chicago's farm system as well as the big-market franchise's lack of imagination.
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In losing four of their previous five series, the Cubs went from tied for first place to eight games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central race. No matter what they say, the frustration from star players such as Crow-Armstrong and Tucker is visible in the helmet flings and bat-slamming tantrums.
Scattered boos from the crowd of 40,044 were audible at the end of Friday afternoon's 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field, yet another indicator of a club surrounded by negativity.
'The Cubbies are going to keep playing the same baseball we played all year,' Crow-Armstrong said. 'It's been an interesting two weeks, but we're fine. I don't think there's any worry in the world.'
Crow-Armstrong delivered that hopeful message after a morning meeting with Cubs manager Craig Counsell – and before a defeat that encapsulated so much of what has recently gone wrong.
A listless lineup left Crow-Armstrong stranded at third base after his double in the second inning. Desperate to generate more offense, he got thrown out at second base while trying to stretch an RBI single into a double, ending the fourth inning. He started a rally in the seventh inning, getting hit by a pitch and scoring on Matt Shaw's sacrifice fly, but the Cubs couldn't knock out the Pirates with one big swing.
Those missed opportunities framed the ninth inning, when Cubs closer Daniel Palencia watched as Jack Suwinski launched a 101 mph fastball into the left-field bleachers for a solo homer and a one-run lead, which happens when a pitching staff has little margin for error.
Still amped up and trying to make something happen in the ninth inning, Crow-Armstrong hit a leadoff single and attempted to steal second base, only to get tagged out when the momentum from his headfirst slide carried him past the bag.
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One more postgame concern would be the knee that Crow-Armstrong, a Gold Glove-caliber center fielder, banged while trying to make a diving catch in the seventh inning. The ball instead dropped for a double that put the Pirates ahead 2-1, forcing the Cubs to again play catch-up.
'It becomes the self-inflected pressure when you feel like you're not playing your part and contributing,' Crow-Armstrong said. 'At the end of the day, I think that's a bit of a more selfish approach. As Couns' has been able to remind me – and JT (Justin Turner) or whoever I've talked to – it's always just about what else I have to offer.
'That's the hard part about this game. You might not be getting the action in center field and feeling like you're contributing. You may not be making the right decisions on the base paths, like I have kind of shown recently. So when stuff starts to kind of pile up like that, it sucks.'
Not panicking is the proper response. The Cubs still have 41 games remaining, which represents a quarter of their season. They began the day with playoff probabilities that ranged from 99.7 percent to 96.5 percent, according to the projections run by Baseball Prospectus, Baseball Reference and FanGraphs. That optimistic outlook is mostly based on the club's strong showing in April and May, as well as its ability to stay afloat amid injuries and underperformance.
'There's this tendency to make everything sound worse than it is in our game,' Counsell said. 'That's just the nature of it when it's every day.'
The games, though, are played by people, and not on computers, which makes the whole thing feel more fragile.
'Consistency is something that we have to offer,' Counsell said. 'You can't fall into (thinking) it's that bad. You can't fall into that thought because nothing bad has happened. You get trapped into results. Of course, we know results are what matter here. This is a results business. You understand that. But I think for us to focus on results is harmful.
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'Focus on the things that contribute to us being good. Those are the right things to focus on. Those things make you better. It's hard. I get it, it's hard. But for those guys in there, you got to keep them on that, man, because that's what's going to get you to a better place.'
Crow-Armstrong downplayed the significance of popping into Counsell's office before Friday's game, saying that he often meets with the manager. Crow-Armstrong had gone 1-for-20 in his previous five games and posted a .193 OPS over a 14-day period. He has not hit a home run since July 23. Counsell described their interactions as 'general talks' that are 'kind of about baseball, but more about life.'
'Sometimes, it's just to shoot the s—,' Crow-Armstrong said. 'Other times, it's to have some real conversations. He's got a lot to provide for a guy like me. He's shown more support in me than just about anybody in the baseball world. I go see him all the time just because I know he's got my back and my best interests in mind.'
This is still a learning experience for Crow-Armstrong, 23, whose rapid development into an All-Star performer changed the contours of this season, fueling hopes that the Cubs could become a legitimate World Series contender. While that possibility has not been foreclosed, it's hard to consider the Cubs as a serious playoff heavyweight when Crow-Armstrong isn't the most breathtaking player on the field.
'I still have, however, many freaking weeks left in the season,' Crow-Armstrong said. 'It's still a lot of time to begin to produce again. It's just wanting to go up there every day, and treating every day like you got another chance to do something new.'
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There was a time this season when right fielder Kyle Tucker would single or hit a home run and fans on social media would say, 'Pay the man whatever he wants!' Tucker, who came to the Cubs in an offseason trade with Houston with one year left on his contract, was speculated by some to command a $500 million price tag on his next contract. Now that he is in a slump — he hasn't homered since July 19 and hits have been hard to come by — fans are getting testy with him. On Sunday, when he didn't run out of the batter's box on a grounder to first in the sixth inning, he was loudly booed. Since the Cubs have not been in the postseason since 2020, let's have a refresher course on the playoffs. The American League and National League each get six representatives — three division champs and three wild cards. The top seed is the team with the league's best record, the second seed is the second-best division winner and the third seed is the third-best division winner. 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