If Cubs' offense can't remedy this problem, things could spiral quickly in the NLDS

The Chicago Cubs' offense did just enough to sneak past the San Diego Padres in the National League Wild Card Series - and the team's superb pitching was the driving force behind that victory in the end. Now, tasked with taking down their biggest rivals and the #1 seed Milwaukee Brewers, the Cubs need more from the bats.

Entering Game 2 on Monday, six Cubs players have struck out in at least 40 percent of their at-bats this postseason - including gaudy marks from Dansby Swanson (69 percent K rate) and Pete Crow-Armstrong (50 percent). Chicago clubbed three home runs in Saturday's 9-3 Game 1 loss, but all three came with nobody on base.

As a team, Chicago has struck out 47 times this postseason - by far, the most in the National League. In fact, the next-closest NL club in terms of strikeouts? The Los Angeles Dodgers, at 28. And LA boasts an OPS more than 200 points higher than Chicago (.949 to .708), evidence of a far more potent offensive attack.

Cubs need more players to step up to drive the offense in the playoffs

Four players have accounted for the bulk of the Cubs' damage at the plate: Michael Busch, who led off Game 1 with a solo shot before things went off the rails, Carson Kelly, Nico Hoerner and Seiya Suzuki, whose three postseason hits have all gone for extra bases.

The Cubs aren't panicking - even after their poor showing on Saturday in front of a raucous, largely pro-Brewers crowd at American Family Field. Even so, they'll need to put the ball in play and create some offense moving forward because what they've done to this point isn't a recipe for sustained success.

“The beauty of this time of year is one loss counts as one loss,” Swanson told reporters. “I was making the joke to everybody that this is not Champions League, it’s not an aggregate situation. I don’t know how many of them understood that. It’s an easy way to flush it and move on and be ready for Monday.”