Outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong didn’t mince words. As reporters filed into the Chicago Cubs’ clubhouse Saturday night, he looked across the room, saw his All-Star teammate holding court, and shouted: “The King’s back.”
In one sentence, PCA captured the mood shift that the Cubs had been waiting for weeks. For all the resets, lineup tweaks, and patience speeches from manager Craig Counsell, the real change came when Kyle Tucker started swinging like himself again. And now, the Cubs’ season might look different because of it.
A Reset That Worked
Baseball has a way of humbling everyone, and Tucker’s summer slump was as harsh as they come. Booed at Wrigley Field, dragging his body language through at-bats, and mired in a month-long power outage, Tucker looked nothing like the centerpiece the Cubs acquired in a blockbuster trade with Houston.
Counsell admitted he had to step in. Tucker sat out three games in Milwaukee earlier this month—not for mechanics, not for lingering hand pain, but for his head. “Mentally, he needed some days,” Counsell explained. “You’re facing a division rival and you want your best players, but the player needed it. And he’s earned the right for us to do what’s best for him.”
The payoff came in Anaheim. In front of more than 44,000 fans, Tucker crushed two home runs, ripped a double, and drove in five runs in Saturday’s 12–1 rout of the Angels. Suddenly, the Cubs’ most glaring problem—their best hitter looking lost—flipped into a potential solution.
“Everything starts with Tucker,” Counsell said, according to The Athletic. “We hate slumps. They’re exhausting. But when you get through one, you come out stronger. He’s done that.”
The Declaration That Changes Everything
PCA’s three words weren’t just for show. They were a declaration that the Cubs once again have the game-changing bat they need if October is going to be more than a dream. For a young outfielder like Crow-Armstrong, who has shouldered his own growing pains, Tucker’s resurgence is both validation and motivation.
“The King’s back,” echoed because it didn’t sound like blind optimism. It sounded like a clubhouse watching its star reawaken.
Tucker downplayed the theatrics. Asked if the weekend felt like a turning point, he shrugged. “Maybe. I feel fine. Move on to the next at-bat, the next game.” That’s always been his public approach: never too high, never too low.
But inside the room, players felt it. After the game, Tucker laughed with his teammates at a clubhouse table, his presence light years away from the frustration he had shown two weeks ago. He looked like someone who had rediscovered not just his swing, but his rhythm.
The Cubs can’t lean entirely on one bat, and Saturday proved that. Reese McGuire added a grand slam, and rookie Cade Horton pitched six scoreless innings. Still, everyone knows where the season hinges. Tucker’s All-Star ceiling is what gives this roster legitimacy in a crowded National League playoff race.
That’s why PCA’s declaration mattered. It wasn’t just hype. It was a recognition that the Cubs’ fortunes are tied to Tucker’s production.
Whether he can sustain it into September is still the big question. But for now, the reset worked, the bat is loud again, and the Cubs’ clubhouse is buzzing.
As Tucker himself put it: “You just try to take stuff pitch-by-pitch, one at-bat and game-by-game.”
For the Cubs, that’s all they need—because if “The King” is back, everything else feels possible.
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