It’s actually a pretty unusual season when you don’t have a holy $#@! type of win. 10 game winning streaks? Quite a bit less common. Without doing any research, I’m betting the intersection of those two occurrences? A big comeback during a long streak? Less common. On the road? Against the two-time defending World Champs? We just keep going further into subsets. And with each layer of that, you know that this game was probably a unicorn among unicorns.
If you stayed up and saw the comeback, a hat
tip to you. I’m more than a little disappointed that out here on the East Coast, I went to bed after the top of the sixth. I didn’t like the matchup of the Cubs bullpen against the Dodgers relievers with them at home and spotted a four-run lead. My loss. Though I quite enjoyed watching the highlights first thing this morning.
As I’ve said throughout this streak being extended, these longish streaks don’t necessarily make a season a playoff season. The last longish streak like this resulted in an 83-win team. Now that they’ve reached double digits? Now the Cubs are chasing the 2016 team. This team will be done no favors trying to compare to the single most beloved season in basically every living Cub fan’s lives.
I do believe, though, that both of these things can provide a boost to a team. You know there are going to be struggles. There are going to be times when some team that’s going to struggle to win 70 games is going to win a series. When some pitcher who should probably be riding buses in the minors shuts you down. I do believe that it can be a big tool to say hey, we know we can be excellent. We know we won 10 straight games, all against teams that a majority of baseball experts thought were playoff teams. When you are down three or four or five runs in a game. Maybe it’s getting late. But you say hey. We came off the mat and beat the Dodgers in their own park. We’ve been here and we’ve done this.
I’m going to run out of superlatives for what this team is doing. It’s a good problem to have. That the Cubs came back from down four on the road to win against the champs in a game in which their centerfielder had not one but two outfield assists on plays at the plate? That’s insane.
Dansby Swanson and the offense will rightly get all kinds of credit for their six-run outburst (that could so easily have been eight). The defense included one of the more spectacular plays I think I’ve seen by Nico Hoerner. But it can’t be lost that this starts with a guy who I have to admit never entered my Chicago Cubs tunnel vision. Ryan Rolison, who I was completely unfamiliar with previously, threw three scoreless innings allowing just two hits. Part of it is the structure of the game, but I’m going to bet that not too many relievers throw three scoreless innings against the Dodgers this year.
Last note. If you are someone who has ridden Craig Counsell, I’d at least suggest you take a few minutes and reconsider your impression of his abilities. That guy is managing his butt off and he’s killing it. It’s early, but I’ll be surprised when the various outlets that run odds for various things start listing him as one of the favorites for Manager of the Year. Eight Cub pitchers have hit the injured list this month alone. There is no win last night without four scoreless innings from the bullpen. Down four, you were always going to be using the “B” relievers. But after the three-run seventh, you might consider an “A” reliever. After the run in the eighth, you almost certainly go to the main group. And after the two in the ninth, you absolutely run out your best guy to close it. But none of those guys are healthy right now.
Unbelievable. Go Cubs.
Three Positives:
- This is Dansby’s game. Two hits, a triple and a homer. Four runs driven in. Two runs scored. He had a hand in all but one of the runs that scored. How many teams have their ninth hitter say hop on, I got this?
- Ryan Rolison. Only a heroic effort by Dansby kept this one from being my top spot. Unbelievable performance. The second longest outing of his major league career. His previous high for scoreless outing was 2.1 innings. Only his second major league win. While that stat may be flawed, there was no fluke about that win. Good stuff.
- Among a lot of excellent choices, I’m going with Pete Crow-Armstrong, who drew a two-out walk in the seventh to extend the inning for Dansby’s two-run triple that turned into three runs. He was also on board ahead of the game-winner.
Hat tips to Nico Hoerner, Alex Bregman and Corbin Martin earning his third career save.
Game 26, April 24: Cubs 6, Dodgers 4 (17-9)
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
- Superhero: Dansby Swanson (.465). 2-3, HR, 3B, HBP, 4 RBI, 2 R
- 2nd biggest WPA game of the season for the Cubs
- Hero: Ryan Rolison (.159). 3 IP, 10 BG, 2 H, K (W 1-0)
- Sidekick: Alex Bregman (.154). 2-5, HR, RBI, R
THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat: Jameson Taillon (-.188). 5 IP, 21 BF, 4 H, 3 BB, 4 R, 4 K
- Goat: Seiya Suzuki (-.114). 0-4
- Kid: Carson Kelly (-.113). 0-3, BB
WPA Play of the Game: Dansby Swanson homers with a runner on first and no outs in the ninth to break a 4-4 tie. (.345)
*Dodgers Play of the Game: Will Smith batted with runners on first and second with two outs in the third and hit a three-run homer. (.276)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Game 25 Winner: A particularly rare occurrence, Michael Busch and Seiya Suzuki tied at 92 votes apiece. I have no data for it, but I think unanimous votes happen more than ties.
Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 3/Bottom 3)
The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.
- Nico Hoerner +7.5
- Michael Conforto/Shōta Imanaga +7
- Seiya Suzuki -8
- Jacob Webb -9
- Pete Crow-Armstrong -13
Current Win Pace: 105.9
Up Next: What do you do for an encore after that? This one is played at a much more reasonable hour. Game two in Los Angeles. The Cubs send Colin Rea (3-0, 3.00, 24 IP) for his third start (in addition to one bulk outing). He’s got a 20:5 strikeout to talk ratio, a 1.04 WHIP and a save for good measure. It would be hard to overstate how much he’s meant to this Cub pitching staff in his year plus here.
Roki Sasaki (0-2, 6.11, 17.2 IP) is the rare modern era Dodger signing that hasn’t worked out (yet). This is his fifth start of the year. His best outing was actually his first one of the year against Cleveland when he allowed a run on four hits and two walks over four innings. He does average nearly a strikeout per inning, but also more than a hit per inning and almost a walk per inning. His numbers simply don’t suggest a high probability of success and if the Cubs are patient, I think they’ll put some runs on the board.
Win one for? Uniform No. 11 has been worn by quite a number of people through the years. There are some great names on that list. Ron Cey was my first No. 11 that I remember. A lot of really fun Cub middle infielders have worn the number. Drew Smyly would have been wearing that number the day of his really enjoyable almost no-hitter. But given the oddity in modern baseball of the manager’s jersey being visible, I certainly did not know that Craig Counsell is currently Cub No. 11. As I think he’s as responsible as anyone for this streak, let’s go win another one for Craig.
