If you are not all over MLB social media, you might not know that come from behind wins often get tagged with a wheeee! That’s because the game graph usually looks like a slide or a sled hill. This one was wild enough that it looks a little like a bad EKG. One where the patient dies pretty suddenly at the end. We’ll call that the Oof at the end. Oof is what happens when you are on the wrong end of Whee. Or at least that’s how I feel.
Kudos to the Cub offense showing signs of life on Friday and Sunday
after a rough road trip. But even that said, if the offense had cashed in on more of the large number of opportunities they had on Sunday, maybe they leave with two anyway. There is no world in which a team scored seven runs in nine innings where I’m going to say that they didn’t do enough. Seven should be enough to win. That said, they had 20-plus baserunners again. They had nine hits, were walked nine times and hit by two pitches. They also benefitted from a White Sox error that contributed to the key rally (though I’m not 100 percent sure that they’d have definitely had that out at first). With that many baserunners and multiple homers, they could certainly have scored even more runs. The Cubs left 13 on base and were just 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position. That’s not good enough.
While the Cubs were winning 20 of 23, a lot of balls hit by the Cubs found some fortunate space and a lot of balls hit by the other team tended to find a talented Cub fielder. Some of that luck has tilted. There are a handful of plays where an inch or two here or there totally shifts the outcome of this. Pete Crow-Armstrong is so good, that it is shocking when he has a chance to make a highlight reel play and doesn’t. One of those was huge in this and another ball that he was backing up Seiya Suzuki wasn’t fielded cleanly. There were a small handful of balls that bounces off of gloves or just past outstretched gloves. There was a soft line drive that beat the shift, landing right where Dansby Swanson would be standing in a straight up defense. These things happen and tend to balance to the skill level of your team over time. Those kinds of things hurt in the moment, but wane from the memory quickly.
Allowing two different hitters their first homer of the season? That’s rough. The ongoing struggles of Phil Maton? That stings. This isn’t one of the long line of scrap heap pickups the team has made. They dropped some multi-year money on him. A 33-year-old pitcher signed for another year and an option? That gives me heartburn when he struggles. One of those scrap heap guys out there for the 10th? Looking for his first career save? Oof is right.
The MLB regular season is a gauntlet. I say this often. The regular season is much or more about your depth 21-40 and even beyond on your roster than it is about your stars. Injuries happen to every team. The high number of injuries to Cub pitchers in the early going has decimated any perceived pitching depth the Cubs had. These long stretches of games expose that. When you’ve got off days happening, you can sneak in some extra outings from your primary guys. But when you get on these long stretches of games, you need the back half of your pen and sometimes beyond. Put simply, the soft underbelly of the Cub pitching staff is getting exposed. Second and third tier starters throwing on four days rest. Second and third tier relievers seeing the same hitters multiple times in a series. To Ryan Rolison’s credit, he was trying to pitch in his third straight game. If it hadn’t been Rolison, I believe next up was Ty Blach, who is a 35-year-old pitcher who last threw at the major league level for the Rockies in 2024 while they were losing 101 games. He owns a 5.42 ERA across 520 innings. Oof.
It’s been a rough go. To say the least.
Three Positives:
- Michael Conforto is earning more playing time and another big league payday. He had two hits including a game-tying, three-run homer.
- Michael Busch had a two-run homer and drew two walks. He just missed on one or two others too.
- Credit where it’s due. Hoby Milner and Jacob Webb each recorded four outs. They quieted this game down and gave the Cubs a chance. With Daniel Palencia, they appear to be the entire circle of trust on this team.
Game 47, May 17: White Sox 9, Cubs 8 (29-18)
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
- Superhero: Michael Conforto (.292). 2-4, HR, BB, 3 RBI, R
- Hero: Alex Bregman (.239). 2-5, BB, 2 RBI, 2 R
- Sidekick: Pete Crow-Armstrong (.160). 0-3, 2 HBP, SB
THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat: Ryan Rolison (-.556). 0.1 IP, 2 BF, H, 2 R (1 ER) (L 3-1)
- Goat: Phil Maton (-.406). 0.2 IP, 5 BF, 2 H, BB, 3 ER
- Kid: Colin Rea (-.232). 4.2 IP, 21 BF, 6 H, BB, 4 ER, 4 K
- Rolison’s score looks like the lowest one of the season by a Cub (and lowest since Daniel Palencia’s -.893 last September 7). Maton’s game is the fifth lowest of the year.
WPA Play of the Game: Edgar Quero’s walk-off, two-run homer. (.588)
Cubs Play of the Game: Michael Conforto’s three-run, game-tying homer in the ninth inning. (.380)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Game 46 Winner: Miguel Amaya (21 of 79 votes)
Current Win Pace: 100 wins
Up Next: The Cubs return to Wrigley Field where they have a 15-game winning streak running. The Brewers are 26-18 after losing on Sunday. They are just 11-9 away from home, the Cubs are 18-5 at home. Shōta Imanaga (4-3, 2.32, 54.1) gets the opener. He’s making his 10th start of the year. Last time he was a tough-luck loser, allowing two runs on five hits and no walks over seven plus innings. He’s been better at home and better at night, so he’s in just the right spot for this one.
25-year-old Brandon Sproat (1-2, 5.75, 36 IP) starts for the Brewers. The right hander was a second round pick by the Mets in 2023 (56th overall) out of the University of Florida. He’s making his ninth start of the season and 11th of his career. Last time out, he allowed three runs on six hits and two walks in 5.1 innings and was the winning pitcher against the Padres in Milwaukee. He’s never faced the Cubs.
Bounce back at home. Keep the streak rolling.
Go Cubs!
