Chicago Cubs: PCA inadvertently confirms team’s ugly reality

Star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong recently offered some comments to media that could be construed as the expected ‘we’ll be better,’ but also as an admission that this 2026 Cubs team has not been as consistently dialed in as many expected them to be, despite their two well-publicized 10-game winning streaks.

‘‘I mean, it’s kind of felt like that all year, even with the 10-game winning streaks, like no one’s been hot at the same time, you know?’’ Crow-Armstrong told reporters. ‘‘Like, we’ve relied on Nico for a good bit here. We relied on Ian [Happ] earlier in the year. [Busch] has been the one who is kind of solo-driving the bus. He changed today’s game with one swing.

‘‘We’ve got a lot of guys that are capable of doing that, but it’s kind of felt like that all year. Once every guy in this lineup is feeling like themselves, yeah, it’s a dangerous team…We’re always on the verge of clicking at any moment.”

“PCA” hit the ball hard in the Cubs’ 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on Monday, but still finished with a 0-4 day in the leadoff position.

With the team’s flatlining offense right now, there’s no use in pointing fingers at any one or two players. Everybody is doing poorly, with the exception of first baseman Michael Busch, who got the team its only run via solo home run.

The Cubs are mentally out of it

Manager Craig Counsell has tried strategically benching starters and switching around the lineup, but nothing has worked, likely because the Cubs are now deeply in their own heads.

‘‘It’s all mental,’’ Crow-Armstrong said. ‘‘It’s always starting upstairs. A lot of the time, it doesn’t have to do with the game itself, as you saw [last week] with me. I think that’s an example of all of the outside factors that can affect somebody in the box that are just really naturally hard to battle with when you’re trying to hit 95 [mph] every at-bat.

‘‘But everybody in this clubhouse has a real strong mentality, and that’s just another reason we’re not ever far off from just being our true identity at its whole, at its best, at its fullest form.’’

Meanwhile, the fans keep waiting for the ‘real’ Cubs to come forward and play as their true self-actualized selves. And while the wait continues, the team falls further down the standings.