Are Cubs prepared to run away with Central in second half? It sure doesn’t sound like it

CLEVELAND — How good are the Cubs feeling about their chances to put the pedal down in the second half of the season and win the NL Central? How confident are they that they’re the true team to beat in the division, last year’s 11th-hour slip-up notwithstanding? How sure are they that their first-place lead at the All-Star break — a mere half-game over the Brewers — will grow into something formidable?

Just consider this fireball of an answer from catcher Willson Contreras when asked during All-Star media day if this Cubs team is in need of a shakeup:

“I don’t know about that,” he said. “I can’t say yes. I can’t say no. The only thing I say is we need to make some adjustments offensively and defensively.”

Whoa! That was strong.

Wait. No, it wasn’t.

Where’s the attitude? Where’s the edge? Where’s the mojo that helped a certain Cubs team win a World Series not that long ago here at Progressive Field?

Contreras and his fellow Cubs All-Stars — Javy Baez and Kris Bryant — don’t seem to have those things in particularly large supply, at least not where hanging another division banner at Wrigley Field is concerned.

To label them cautiously optimistic would be more accurate.

“We’re going to need to play better, and I think we, as a team, expect that,” Bryant said. “We completely underperformed in the first half. We let some games get away from us that we could easily have won. The questions and stories would be different right now, but we didn’t do that and it’s a little disappointing. But there are still a lot of games to be played.”

There have been 90 by the Cubs thus far, and they were about as inconclusive as it gets in regard to the clogged National League Central. A 47-43 record puts them only 4½ games up on the last-place Reds. In between sit the Brewers, Cardinals and Pirates. Together, the five teams are a mishmash of tempered hopes and distant dreams.

“If you asked me about our team, yeah, super underachieving,” Bryant said. “But if you look at the other teams and the additions they’ve added, it is a very balanced [field].”

“Balanced” is a nice way to put it. Many were calling the Central the strongest division in the NL and some the strongest division in either league. But the Cubs have by far the worst record among baseball’s six division leaders, and four of the five other divisions have two or more teams with better records than the Cubs.

We won’t go so far as to call it a bad division. Let’s go with so-so (at best?) for now.

“It seems everyone’s feeling like that, underwhelmed,” All-Star Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong said. “At least, I’m pretty sure that’s the case with the Cubs, Brewers and with us. Who’s going to snap out of it first? That’s the goal for our group in the second half, to click as a group and not worry about who else in the division is able to do that. For us, we know it’s right there for the taking.”

According to Bryant, the Cubs’ second-half goal is to “beat up on” the rest of the division.

“That’s the easiest way to separate yourselves,” he said.

The problem there: Only the Brewers have flexed above-.500 muscle inside the division to date, going 24-18. The Cubs are 15-16.

“We feel like it’s still our division to win,” All-Star Brewers infielder Mike Moustakas said. “There’s no reason we wouldn’t feel like that. We know we’re good enough if we pick it up from here. It’s been a little disappointing thus far, but that’s why it’s nice to look up and see we’re basically all [tied] at the top.”

Meanwhile, members of the Cubs, Brewers and Cardinals all referred to the Pirates and Reds as making the most of their opportunities to stay in the race.

“If they want to look at us like that, that’s fine,” All-Star Pirates first baseman Josh Bell said. “But we look around the division and don’t see anybody as really being any [better] than us. We haven’t really scratched the surface of what we can do. We’ve just played OK to this point.”

Will it be more of the same the rest of the way? Will it take even 90 wins to claim the crown in a so-so division? Will a team separate itself?

“Of course, we want it to be us,” Baez said. “We know we can play a lot better. It’s a long season. A lot of things can happen.”

Whoa! Did anybody get the number of that truck?

No, the second-half statements from the Cubs just aren’t that compelling. Then again, talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words. What other clichés can we throw at you?

Here’s one:

“In the end,” Baez said, “the best team will win.”