ANAHEIM, Calif. — For months, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker staged their own MVP campaigns, expanding the possibilities for the Chicago Cubs with their electrifying performances. The 162-game schedule, though, is relentless. As the summer wore on, the Cubs dropped out of first place while both of those stars gradually dimmed.

A lesser version of this team is simply not built for October. A successful playoff run requires Crow-Armstrong and Tucker to snap out of these funks and give the lineup more juice. That reality made two big swings in Friday night’s 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels particularly meaningful.

You could tell by the reaction from Cubs manager Craig Counsell, the upbeat energy in Angel Stadium’s visiting clubhouse and the blunt assessment given by Crow-Armstrong after blasting Kenley Jansen’s cutter into the right-field seats for the go-ahead homer in the ninth inning.

“It’s about time I stepped up in a situation like that,” Crow-Armstrong said.

Indeed, Crow-Armstrong had not hit a home run since July 23, which would have been a bigger story if not for the Tucker saga. It had gotten to a point where Counsell sort of joked that assistant hitting coach John Mallee was on the bench “almost praying for Pete” in the ninth inning.

“I haven’t played my part, up to this point, since the (All-Star) break,” Crow-Armstrong said. “It’s definitely a feeling to build off.”

A few minutes earlier and a few lockers over, Tucker had shrugged off his first home run since July 19. “It was cool,” he said. “Haven’t done that in a while.” That lack of emotion is one of Tucker’s strengths as a hitter — and an interesting foil to Crow-Armstrong’s passion — but things were spiraling out of his control.

After hearing the boos at Wrigley Field and watching the bad body language, Counsell decided to bench Tucker for a mental reset earlier this week. Then an ESPN report surfaced that Tucker was playing through a hairline fracture in his right hand, which the Cubs quickly confirmed after previously insisting everything was fine.

Tucker launching that home run off Angels lefty Tyler Anderson in Friday’s first inning could be the turning point that locks in his mechanics again.

“Maybe,” Tucker said. “We’ll see how tomorrow goes, and the next day and the next day.”

Tucker’s calm, steady attitude is part of what Counsell has described as an ideal makeup for a hitter. Then again, Tucker has never really struggled to this extent before. But this is still someone who was once a top-five draft pick, a top-10 prospect in the entire sport and a World Series champion with the Houston Astros. He’s been an All-Star four years running.

“Any guy with a track record like that, you’re always just kind of waiting for that one swing from him,” Crow-Armstrong said. “He’s been battling whatever he’s been battling. But he hasn’t made that the thing. All he’s done is come in and work and play a good right field and deal with the Wrigley sun and the Wrigley wind. It’s been blowing in his face when he’s been hitting. We play at a hard place. I think that just wears and tears, sometimes, when you know that your chances of putting a ball in the air and having a good outcome aren’t always the greatest.

“He has shown me how to stay the course, as a ton of others have. But he was also the last person to come up and pat me on the butt before I went up for my last at-bat. That kind of gives me chills there. I’ve never been worried about Kyle. It’s just nice that the anticipation of that one swing was kind of there, so I felt a little bit freed up for him. That honestly probably contributed to me taking my fourth at-bat after not really doing anything.”

With the offense slumping and the Milwaukee Brewers taking control of the National League Central race, Counsell has occasionally sounded annoyed by the line of questioning from the media. Things aren’t that bad, Counsell insisted. It’s just that the Cubs didn’t keep pace with Milwaukee’s unbelievable 14-game winning streak.

The Cubs remain solidly in the wild-card picture. Their pitching staff continues to exceed expectations and find solutions. Everything changes when Crow-Armstrong and Tucker are on top of their games.

“Those guys kind of gave outsize contributions for a whole bunch of the season,” Counsell said. “Their contributions were both like ‘wow’ contributions. That’s why we’ve been a good offense. That’s why we’ve been an exceptional offense. And they’ll contribute because they’re really good offensive players. It makes the room feel good. We need those guys.”

(Photo: John McCoy / Getty Images)