The Cubs believe they’re still capable of winning the World Series, even during a late-season downturn that’s seen them win only four of their last 10 series.
But even the doubters panicking over the team’s shaky bullpen had to be somewhat less skeptical watching the best bats in baseball bash the Braves in Wednesday night’s 8-4 win.
Center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, miles ahead in the MVP race, kept adding to his untouchable resume, smacking two home runs to grow his season total to 44. He drove in three runs and tripled, now with more than 80 extra-base hits on the campaign.
“You’re shaking your head in amazement sometimes. In amazement,” manager Craig Counsell said. “You spend your whole life in baseball, and you just don’t see this happen on the baseball field. You’re grateful to be a part of it. You’re grateful to see things like this.
“And you’re grateful that the fans get to see a season like this, because they’re going to tell their kids about it, they’re going to tell their grandkids about seasons like this.”
As unbelievable as Crow-Armstrong has been, however, this is hardly some one-man operation, and third baseman Alex Bregman – whose bat has been electric in the second half after a slow start to his Cubs tenure – could find himself placing somewhere in the MVP vote, too.
Bregman, who started Wednesday sixth among NL position players in fWAR, came a single shy of hitting for the cycle – which Crow-Armstrong did earlier this season – banging out a trio of extra-base hits, including his 26th homer of the campaign. He drove in four runs.
Bregman slumped hard enough that he was getting booed at the supposedly Friendly Confines in the early going, but he’s been spectacular since the All-Star break, with a 1.034 OPS in his last 58 games.
The duo fell short of being just the second in team history to hit for the cycle in the same season; Billy Williams and Randy Hundley did it in 1966.
But they could find themselves doing something those 60s teams full of All Stars and Hall of Famers never did: carrying the Cubs deep into the postseason.
While the team’s pitching issues have been glaring enough to throw into question what it’s capable of come October, the Cubs still have the highest-scoring offense in baseball.
“It’s always fun to be a part of,” Crow-Armstrong said of a clicking lineup. “It definitely makes your life a little easier when you just know that someone can get the job done at any second.
“We’ve seen it time and time again, and when it is going like it is right now, it’s fun. It feels free and about as close to easy as baseball can get.”
Sure, neither Crow-Armstrong or Bregman pitch, and that’s where the question marks hang over the Cubs and their chances of reaching their season-long, championship-level goals.
But if they’re doing this to opposing pitching, will it matter?
“We’re swinging at good pitches right now. We’re damaging the pitches that we get,” Bregman said. “That’s what it’s going to take down the stretch.”