Craig Counsell's complacency is about to cost the Cubs their World Series hopes

The Chicago Cubs continued to watch their NL Central hopes slip through their fingers on Friday night. While the Milwaukee Brewers were busy pulling out yet another improbable win, Chicago was once again failing to get anything going at the plate, getting blanked by Michael McGreevy and the St. Louis Cardinals in a dispiriting 5-0 loss.

The Cubs are now a full five games back in the division. Pretty soon, fans will have to pivot their hopes to a Wild Card spot, and even there things might get dicey — the new-look San Diego Padres now find themselves just 2.5 games back of the No. 4 seed in the NL playoffs. If Chicago isn't careful, a once-dream season might result in a best-of-three Wild Card series on the road to start October.

But even more concerning than the standings is how this team is playing right now. After Friday's no-show, the Cubs are just 21st in team OPS since the All-Star break, the biggest reason why they've gone 9-10 over that span. Just about all of the team's biggest bats, from Kyle Tucker (.666 OPS over the last 30 days) to Seiya Suzuki (.621) to Michael Busch (.522) to even Pete Crow-Armstrong (.763), have gone ice-cold at the worst possible time.

In the midst of such a prolonged skid, and with so little time left to get back into gear and secure playoff positioning, you'd expect at least a little bit of urgency from Cubs brass. There's a ton riding on this season, after all, especially with Tucker's looming free agency. But teams often follow their cue of their manager, and that's just not how Craig Counsell rolls. For the past month or so, he's insisted on keeping calm, and he did so again on Friday night, telling reporters that "this is a good offense".

Which, to be fair, remains true in the aggregate. It's a long regular season, and even great teams go through dry spells at some point. It's hard to find reason for long-term concern with guys like Tucker and Suzuki; they're just not hitting right now. And you can understand why Counsell doesn't want to instill panic in his players, or create an extra distraction for them to deal with.

But at the same time, there's a real difference between panic and urgency. Things might work out in the long run, but the run is now getting shorter and shorter for Chicago. If they don't find another gear soon, it could be too late, and Counsell keeps on showing Cubs fans that he's probably not the manager to get them there.

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Cubs need more urgency, and Craig Counsell isn't the manager to provide it

Counsell's level-headedness is, in some ways, one of his greatest strengths. He never gets too high or too low, and that helps both his own decision-making as well as the overall vibe in his clubhouse. But there's a time and a place for everything, and at this point it might be time to admit that level-headedness isn't getting the job done.

True, there's still plenty of season left, and the Cubs remain as talented as they were when they were running roughshod over the National League earlier this year. But there's a big, big difference between going into the playoffs as a division winner and a top-two seed and going into the playoffs as the second Wild Card team. One gives you a direct bye to the NLDS and home-field advantage once you get there; the other requires you to win a crapshoot best-of-three on the road against another very talented team like the Padres or New York Mets.

That's not a position Chicago wants to be in, but it's where they're headed if they don't turn things around fast. Counsell is within his rights to trust his players, but the games the Cubs are giving away right now might be what dooms them to an early exit come the postseason.