Cubs have a $317 million problem to overcome as team's offensive struggles continue

For the first time since early May, the Chicago Cubs have dropped out of first place in the NL Central, supplanted by the Milwaukee Brewers, who have dominated Craig Counsell's club in the first two games of the series this week at Wrigley Field.

Jacob Misiorowski carved up Cubs hitters on Tuesday night, needing just 74 pitches to get through six scoreless frames. Chicago struck out 13 times - and their struggles with men on base continued. Entering Wednesday, only two teams have more strikeouts with men on, and there are multiple culprits to blame.

Ian Happ, Alex Bregman and Seiya Suzuki rank first, third and fifth, respectively, in men left on base this year. Having three of the top five in all of baseball is a major problem - and while there's plenty of pain points right now, we're going to focus on Bregman and fellow Gold Glove infielder Dansby Swanson.

Dansby Swanson, Alex Bregman have seen pronounced struggles in May

When you're playing on two of the largest contracts in Cubs franchise history totaling a present-day value north of $300 million, there are a different set of expectations - and both of these guys are well aware of that fact. Swanson, in the fourth season with Chicago remains an above-average defender, but is coming up empty at the plate - despite ranking second on the team with 27 runs batted in.

After a 1-for-4 showing Tuesday, Swanson is down to a .195 average and a sub-.300 OBP on the year. Over the last 15 days, he's carrying a sub-.500 OPS and, really, the main thing keeping his head above water is a dramatically improved 13 percent walk rate that's more than four full points above his career mark.

With men in scoring position, Swanson is batting just .178 on the year. Again, that's a team-wide problem, not one that's unique to the veteran infielder. But as the highest-paid guy on the roster, there's a hope that he can help break these slides - and he just hasn't been that presence.

While Swanson was signed with the knowledge that the bat likely wouldn't be his biggest value add, it's safe to say the Cubs expect more from Bregman, who has very little to show in the power department (.104 ISO, 11 extra-base hits on the year) and checks in with a below-average .686 OPS entering Wednesday's finale against the Brewers.

He's squaring balls up, not chasing and drawing his walks, so you hope the law of averages swings in his favor soon. Breaking pitches have been his undoing so far in a Cubs uniform, but that's not really an outlier when you look back earlier in his career. Perhaps less-than-friendly conditions at Wrigley Field are a culprit? Bregman is batting .283 away from the Confines and just .218 at home, so, again, could warmer temperatures in Chicago get him going? Perhaps.

We've seen it before. You can't win a division in April and May, but you can certainly lose one - or, at the very least, give yourself a steep uphill climb by not taking advantages of opportunities. The injuries on the pitching side of things have been a major problem, but the offensive struggles have only compounded the Cubs' issues and they need their two high-dollar superstars to help get them back on track.

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