Alex Bregman Admits to Poor Performance While Cubs Struggle with RISP

The Cubs are having one of the most ridiculous seasons of all time. After winning 20 of 23 to move to 27-12, they've now lost 20 of 27. There have been a lot of pitching injuries, sure, but the main issue since the winning stopped has been the offense. In those last 27 games, the Cubs are averaging 3.26 runs per game and they most recently scored just seven runs in 29 innings in a series loss to the lowly Giants .

Third baseman Alex Bregman  has been a big part of the problem.

"I've been terrible," Bregman said after Sunday's extra-innings loss, during which he popped out for the final out of the game (via  ESPN ). "I need to play better. Offensively, it's been awful. I've failed many times in this game. I've struggled. I've started slow before. I've started fast before. When you're struggling, there is only one way forward and that's straight, head-on through it. It comes down to executing in the game.

"I haven't executed all year," Bregman said. "Runners in scoring position, I've been god-awful. I need to be better. If I'm better over the last how many games, we probably win the majority of them."

Bregman is hitting .243/.327/.342 (95 OPS+), but those numbers don't do justice to how badly he's looked via the eye test. His hard hit percentage is down to 39% after being over 44% last season. The situational hitting, as he mentioned, is the main issue. Sunday night, Bregman came to the plate in a 1-1 game in the bottom of the eighth inning with runners on first and third with no out. He hit a soft liner (68 mph) to first base that ended up as a double play. Yes, Kevin Alcantara committed an awful baserunning blunder to get doubled off third base, but any ball to the outfield from Bregman would have resulted in a Cubs lead.

Bregman this season is hitting .208/.297/.238 with runners on base. With runners in scoring position, he's hitting .173/.250/.187. With two outs and runners in scoring position, he's down to .100/.206/.133.

But it's not just him. The whole team has been pitiful with runners on base ever since that second 10-game winning streak ran their record to 27-12. The Cubs are still getting guys on base: they rank fifth in the majors in on-base percentage. They just can't bring them home anymore. In one horrifying example, the Cubs have left the bases loaded in innings with zero runs scored 24 times. No other team has done that more than 14 times (via Combinatorialist ).

Look at this leaderboard:

Men left on base this season

1. Cubs, 531 2. Pirates , 500 3. Athletics , 480 4. Royals , 470 4. Mariners , 470

The league average is 450.

The Cubs have three of the top seven players at leaving guys on base this season. Seiya Suzuki is seventh with 126. Ian Happ is third at 138. And, yep, Bregman leads the majors with 143 men left on base.

"I need to be better with runners on base, plain and simple," Bregman said. "They brought me here to play good baseball, and I haven't played good baseball. I need to figure it out."

He does. There's no disputing that. He's far from alone, but that five-year, $175 million deal he signed this past offseason means more of the spotlight is on him.

The Cubs started the season 7-9. Then they went 20-3. They've since gone 7-20. Thanks in large part to those two 10-game winning streaks, they are only a half-game out of a playoff spot. If they are to work their way back in there, the situational hitting needs to be significantly better. Bregman coming through more often would be a good start.

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_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/alex-bregman-cubs-offensive-woes/)._