I wonder if we don't just over-rate the Cubs hitters and their talent somewhat. Can try to be a top-10 offense, but this isn't a top-5 offense in terms of talent or production.
Maybe bunching up production against bad pitchers but struggling against good-stuff relievers, good starters, and average-starters-when-fairly-sharp-on-a-given day is just the way the Cubs talent level demands.
Other than Rizzo's April, is there anybody who's underachieving or clearly performing below what's reasonable for their talent level? (I know we hoped for much more from Happ, but pitchers all know now that he can't hit fastballs middle or up, so I think the actual outcome is realistic.)
Baez, Bryant, Almora, Zobrist, they've all kind of overachieved, if anything.
Not sure it's fair to expect these players to hit much better than they do, against decent pitchers.