2 Cubs have been the most valuable players in the NL over the past month

The Chicago Cubs just had one of the most frustrating months of baseball in recent memory. They started out May 8-0 as part of their second 10-game winning streak of the young season, peaking at 27-12 and looking like a true threat to the Dodgers' supremacy in the National League.

They went on to win just five more games the rest of the month, as the offense sputtered and the pitching staff collapsed under the weight of a ceaseless parade of injuries. They even made MLB history by submitting a 10-game losing streak to match their 10-game winning streaks before June.

But do you want to know the most frustrating part of all of this? The Cubs just wasted huge comeback months from two of their best players.

Cubs waste elite months from Pete Crow-Armstrong and Michael Busch

At 1.5 fWAR (Michael Busch) and 1.4 fWAR (Pete Crow-Armstrong), the Cubs employed the two most valuable position players in the NL in May, and yet they ended the month with a 13-16 record. That mostly has to do with the fact that the rest of the team - particularly Moises Ballesteros (-0.7 fWAR), Matt Shaw (-0.4), and Seiya Suzuki (-0.3) - struggled greatly, not to mention a pitching staff that couldn't rely on anyone not named Ben Brown, Ethan Roberts, or Jacob Webb.

Nevertheless, it's best to give Busch and PCA their flowers for trying their best to keep the North Siders afloat. The first baseman was sensational, hitting .300/.446/.510 (173 wRC+) with near-equal strikeout (20.8 percent) and walk rates (19.2 percent). Most importantly, he rediscovered his power stroke, tying Ian Happ for the team lead with 12 extra-base hits last month.

Not to be outdone, Crow-Armstrong submitted a 120 wRC+ and .762 OPS, drawing more walks while (finally) chasing less frequently. He benefitted greatly from the improved approach, leading the team with a ridiculous 52.6 percent hard-hit rate in May. To top it off, he also stole six bases, crushed 10 extra-base hits, and played the best outfield defense in the league by every available metric. It was the kind of all-around breakthrough the team had been waiting for.

While their lineup cohorts should start to perform better in short order, Busch and PCA will need to keep being superstars in order to prop up a team with basically no rotation to speak of at the moment. If they start to falter as they did in April, it's going to take a miracle for the Cubs to stay attached to the rest of the NL Central.

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