CHICAGO — After two dispiriting losses to the Mets, the Chicago Cubs returned to the friendly confines of Wrigley Field for a workout Monday, and in something of a surprise, there was not a penguin or a cockatoo wandering around the clubhouse. Nor was there a mariachi band to improve the mood or a magician to make the team’s lengthy curse (or the Mets’ Daniel Murphy) disappear.

Then again, there is always Tuesday.

You never really know with the Cubs’ manager, Joe Maddon, who has dug into his voluminous bag of psychological tools as heartily in his first season here as he did during his years managing underfunded, overachieving Tampa Bay teams.

The object, then and now, is to create a sunny-side-up environment.

“It’s a tension-free kind of a game,” said Maddon, whose clubhouses have in the past featured exotic animals, a magician and, yes, a mariachi band, as well as a D.J. “So anything I can do to promote that, that’s what I attempt to do. I really think to bring out the best in your group, the best thing to do is to somehow get them to be able to relax and think in the moment and be mentally relaxed. That is my biggest concern, always.”

At the moment, the Cubs have plenty of others, too. They not only are in a two-games-to-none hole in the National League Championship Series but also have lost with their top two pitchers, Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta, on the mound. Now, they have the daunting task of beating the Mets’ ace, Jacob deGrom, who outpitched Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, arguably baseball’s two best starters this season, in a division series win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. And the Cubs have yet to figure out a way to cool off Murphy.