How to explain the Cubs’ road woes?

A bizarre anomaly?

A character deficiency?

Excessive after-game mischief?

An organizational decision to shift from hotels to hostels?

Whatever the explanation is, you’re still left with the reality that the Cubs are dreadful on the road. Terrible. Ghastly. They blew late leads Friday and Saturday in Milwaukee, and as those games were playing out, anyone who has watched this team in 2019 had the same thought: What manner of death will it be this time?

That’s not what you expect from a franchise that considers itself among the elite in Major League Baseball. That’s not what you expect from a team that prides itself on veteran leadership. The Cubs finally beat the Brewers on Sunday, with Kyle Schwarber clubbing balls all over Miller Park. But did it begin to undo the triple-knotted worry in their fans’ stomachs? I don’t think so.

It would be one thing if the Cubs were a bad team well-acquainted with last place. But they’re a good team that has been atop the National League Central for much of the season. Well, they’re a good team when they play at Wrigley Field, where they’re 36-18. Put them on an airplane, however, and they experience a loss of cabin pressure.

Away from home, their record is 20-31, the second-worst percentage in the NL.

It would be easy to blame the comforts of Wrigley — the beautiful setting, the adoring fans, etc. — for making the road such a cold experience. But the Cubs were able to find success in their travels in past seasons.

I’ve raised the possibility that perhaps the Cubs just aren’t that good. And it’s still worth discussing. But if you win so many games at home, it suggests you have enough talent to win a three-game series against the Dodgers in Botswana or Greenland.

There’s a burgeoning hope in Cubland that the eventual return of Ben Zobrist, who has been on personal leave since early May, will change everything. The team finally will start hitting with runners in scoring position, the errors will come to a halt and the blind will ask for reading glasses.

But closer Craig Kimbrel was going to do all that, remember? He was the answer to all problems. He hasn’t been. Not even close. He gave up two 10th-inning home runs in the loss to the Brewers on Saturday.

Kimbrel’s struggles should serve as a reminder to Cubs fans that Zobrist’s return isn’t guaranteed to be smooth sailing. The Cubs didn’t sign Kimbrel until early June, and he has been chipping away at the rust ever since. They’re betting on the idea that a 38-year-old Zobrist can sleep through an ice age, roll out of his igloo and hit .300. We’ll see.

The remedy for whatever ails the Cubs is already in the clubhouse, we’re told. Too much talent for this to continue, we’re told. We’ll see about that, too. Team president Theo Epstein has all but ruled out a big move by the trade deadline Wednesday. Whatever happens the rest of the way likely will be in the hands of the people who have gotten the Cubs where they are now. That’s the uncomfortable news.

The only-slightly-better news is that many of these players won a World Series in 2016. We can bounce back and forth on this topic forever — good Cubs, bad Cubs — but how much longer are we going to run back to 2016 for sustenance?

The players always can point to their position in the NL Central as proof that things aren’t nearly as bad as the public screeching would suggest they are. That’s the vibe you get from their responses to reporters’ questions. But if that’s what the Cubs are saying to each other behind closed doors, then they have a problem with veteran leadership. When mental mistakes are a regular occurrence (and they are), there’s a lack of discipline and a lack of accountability. When you win often at home and lose often on the road, that points to the mental more than the physical.

If there’s one thing Zobrist should be able to bring to the clubhouse after two-plus months away, it’s leadership. But it’s a poor reflection on Cubs veterans that they need him to tell them how to play right.

The events to date have taught us each season is its own entity. Just because manager Joe Maddon’s teams have had big success after the All-Star break in past seasons, it doesn’t mean second-half success is a given every season. And just because the Cubs were able to flip a switch and start playing better when they needed to in the past, it doesn’t mean they can do that whenever they want.

I don’t dismiss the possibility the Cubs can figure it out on the road going forward. But this particular team — this one, not the 2016 model — hasn’t done much to inspire that belief. Two-thirds of the way through the season, we know the Cubs play well inside the Magic Kingdom. Everywhere else is a haunted castle.

In other news, the Cubs start a three-game series Tuesday in St. Louis.