DENVER — The way frustrated fans have let third baseman Alex Bregman have it recently, you’d think he was the sole reason the Cubs are in their current funk.
Bregman was the one taking the blame after Sunday’s loss, talking about how “terrible” he’s been this season.
But obviously, in a team sport like baseball, one player alone doesn’t have that much power — even if he’s the one with the big contract and the one standing in front of the cameras talking about his lack of contributions after his team slid from atop the National League Central to just a shade over .500.
A couple two tree things about the Cubs from Colorado pic.twitter.com/5OxkT1GaUG
— Vinnie Duber (@VinnieDuber) June 9, 2026
“It’s not surprising that he’d go out and say that. But it’s on all of us,” center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said Tuesday. “Nothing’s really been good about the last few weeks. … That’s not on Alex Bregman alone. It’s on all of us.”
Truer words, Mr. National League Player of the Week.
The Cubs had another poor team-wide showing Tuesday night, starting their series with the Rockies with a 7-3 loss, the 21st defeat in their last 28 games.
With two hits and a sacrifice fly, Bregman wasn’t part of the problem this time. The pitching was the main issue, with Colin Rea torched for seven runs in the first three innings.
“We gave up seven runs,” manager Craig Counsell said after the game. “It’s hard to score seven runs, even in Colorado.”
Put in that early hole, the offense remained mostly punchless, with Michael Busch’s solo homer the team’s lone run-scoring hit of the night.
“Everybody’s a little frustrated,” Busch said. “Everybody would like to be doing a little more for us.”
Though he went hitless with three strikeouts Tuesday, Crow-Armstrong has been the guy doing more of late. After delivering that monster homer against the Cardinals two weekends ago, he earned baseball’s weekly honor by going 11-for-25 during the most recent home stand, smacking four home runs, driving in six runs and stealing a couple bags in six games.
The moments will stick in fans’ minds more than the numbers. He homered and came through with the game-winning knock last Thursday against the A’s and hit a pair of homers — including a game-tying shot in the bottom of the ninth — Saturday against the Giants.
But after series losses to the A’s and Giants on that homestand, he wasn’t exactly over the moon when he discussed his award win.
“It’s nice recognition,” he said. “Realistically, I would have liked to come through in some different spots. I don’t really feel very good about the week that we had.
“The recognition’s cool. I’m just looking to put this [week] behind me and start winning some ballgames again.”
Just as Bregman isn’t the only guy dragging the lineup down, Crow-Armstrong isn’t going to rescue it all by his lonesome. The Cubs aren’t going to stop the bleeding if his bat is the only one to come to life.
“The same way that it’s not on one person in this clubhouse [to blame for the bad performances], I’m real-istic with how this game works, and I can’t go win every game for us, either,” Crow-Armstrong said. “We’re making some mistakes right now that can’t happen and that we normally don’t make.
“It’s just understanding how the game of baseball works and understanding you’re not going to be able to go be a one-man wrecking crew.”
Because of his numbers and his candor, Bregman grabbed headlines with his comments Sunday, but he’s not the only Cubs hitter who knows things haven’t been up to expectations this season. This is a team with championship-level goals that entered Tuesday with the lowest slugging percentage in baseball since May 9.
This supposedly easier stretch of schedule — 22 consecutive games against teams that started June under .500 — got off to a bad start last week.
But will the Cubs take advantage this week against the Rockies and Giants, the NL’s two worst teams?
Not Tuesday, they didn’t.
More than one guy is going to have to finally start producing to start changing the narrative on the North Side.
“We have an accountable group,” Counsell said. “They understand what their job is. They know what we haven’t been doing. We can talk about it a lot, but we’ve also got to understand we’ve got to go play the game and play it well.
“That’s, ultimately, how you change the story. It’s the only way to change the story.”
