Cubs' October ineptitude is laid bare in a new MLB playoffs record

Monday's 7-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers felt like a sort of sick déjà vu for Chicago Cubs fans. Just as in Game 1, Chicago jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first - this time, via a Seiya Suzuki three-run home run - only to watch Milwaukee answer right back with a three-run shot of their own.

One of many issues plaguing this Cubs team - strikeouts - were, again, a major problem. Chicago punched out 11 times in the contest, managing only four hits. Now, their backs are against the wall as the series returns to Wrigley Field on Wednesday for Game 3, with the Cubs' hated NL Central foes just one win from punching their ticket to the NLCS.

In their Game 2 loss, the Cubs did make history - but not in the way you'd like to see.

They've scored three or fewer runs in thirteen consecutive playoff games - a new MLB record - and a testament to both A) how good the Cubs' pitching was in the Wild Card Round and B) how drastically different this lineup looks and feels without an impactful Kyle Tucker putting up results.

Tucker went 0-for-3 with a walk, a strikeout and a run scored Tuesday, bringing his postseason slash line to a dreadful .176/.263/.176. He's got three base hits in five games and none have gone for extra bases. Nor has he driven in a run. It's clear he's doing what he can to play through the calf injury that cost him almost all of September, but he's nowhere near 100 percent.

Cubs' offense has gone deathly quiet in an October vanishing act

The blame doesn't rest solely on Tucker's shoulders, though (although it raises major questions about how the front offices goes about rebuilding this lineup when he inevitably departs in free agency this winter). Ian Happ is batting just .105 in the postseason. Dansby Swanson is at .176.

Matt Shaw is hitless and, while Suzuki has hit for power, he's batting just .222 with a .263 on-base percentage. First-half MVP candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong really has just one solid offensive performance to-date in the playoffs and enters Game 3 slashing just .222/.222/.222 with 10 strikeouts in 18 at-bats.

Chicago's only consistent production has come from Nico Hoerner and Michael Busch - and two guys aren't going to carry a team to a pennant. It takes top-to-bottom production, something we haven't regularly seen from the Cubs since early in the year when Crow-Armstrong and Tucker were both putting up monster numbers, giving cause for optimism not felt in Wrigleyville in years.

Now, with the Cubs one game from elimination - at the hands of the Brewers, no less - the same old story will have to be rewritten. If not, we may soon be getting Jed Hoyer's tired 'our offense broke' line at an end-of-season presser at Wrigley Field sooner than we'd all like.