The Cubs looked like a little league team out there.

The Chicago Cubs have seen better seasons and certainly better days. Losing to a division rival is bad enough. Blowing a three-run lead in the last two innings because of little-league-level errors pours salt on the wound.

Craig Counsell’s Cubs haven’t had much go right for them this year but picking up two wins over the St. Louis Cardinals this week might have felt like a sign of life. Then Game 3 on Saturday took all the air out of the balloon with what can only be described as a fart noise.

Despite holding a 4-1 lead going into the eighth inning, a throwing error by Isaac Paredes and Pete Crow-Armstrong’s mistake on a ball hit to center ensured the Cubs would squander a chance at a series sweep with a 5-4 loss.

That’s the way it goes in baseball. An otherwise positive performance can turn into a comedy of errors in a matter of minutes.

Reliever Porter Hodge put two men on base via a walk and a HBP. The third baseman sent his throw high over the head of Michael Busch at first to allow one Cardinals runner to score. Then Crow-Armstrong committed the kind of mistake you’d expect from 10-year-olds by calling off Nico Hoerner under a routine fly ball, only to miss the ball himself.

Pete Crow-Armstrong and the Cubs can’t get their head in the game consistently

PCA’s involvement stands out in all this because his was the most frustrating moment. Hoener was underneath the ball and ready to make the catch. Sprinting on the scene, Crow-Armstrong didn’t need to call him off except, perhaps, for wanting to make the play himself. It was selfish and cost his team.

There’s a reason the Cubs aren’t in the race for the NL Central or even the wild card. These kinds of miscues aren’t one-offs. Chicago has felt out of sorts for months now.

If it wasn’t the errors, it would be the bullpen. If it wasn’t the errors or the bullpen, it would be a stagnant offense. There always seems to be something.