Hopefully you all follow along and have seen the Game 162 Heroes and Goats
and you already knew how the final standings ended up, at least at the top and bottom. Kudos to you if you knew by the end of the first inning on Sunday that Alex Bregman had likely secured the Rizzo. In reality, it was probably the second homer that did it. But either way, Bregman wins the closest finish in the 13-year history of the award.For a reminder of that history of this award, here are the previous 12 years of Rizzo
Award finalists. Alternatively titled: “Tom doesn’t make clearly readable/decipherable charts.”
Heroes:
- 2014 Rizzo 47.5 Arrieta 30 Castro 20.5
- 2015 Rizzo 65.5 Arrieta 51 Bryant 39
- 2016 Lester 51.5 Hendricks 37 Rizzo 34.5
- 2017 Rizzo 38 Contreras 34 Bryant 23
- 2018 Strop 22 Hendricks 20 Baez 19.5
- 2019 Rizzo 35 Bryant 34.75 Schwarber 19.25
- 2020 Darvish 19 Hendricks 18 Happ 14.5
- 2021 Schwindel +30 Bryant 26 Wisdom 26
- 2022 Robertson 22.5 Morel 18 Effross 17
- 2023 Bellinger 35 Happ 21.5 Alzolay 18
- 2024 Imanaga 23.5 Suzuki 20.5 Taillon 18
- 2025 Tucker 27 Taillon 24 Boyd 20
Goats:
- 2014 Lake -24 Schierholtz -27.5 Jackson -37
- 2015 Russell -19.5 Ross -21.5 Castro -24
- 2016 Baez -19.5 Russell -21.5 Heyward -48.5
- 2017 Heyward/Baez -19 Lackey -20 Zobrist -21
- 2018 Almora -26.5 Russell -42 Contreras -44
- 2019 Quintana/Almora -15.5 Strop -19.5 Heyward -20
- 2020 Rizzo -8.5 Bryant -10 Baez -22
- 2021 Bote -19 Arrieta -19 Davies -25
- 2022 Ortega -11.5 Gomes -14.5 Heyward -15.5
- 2023 Smyly -18 Mancini -20.5 Taillon -23
- 2024 Mastrobuoni -12 Paredes -14 Morel -20.5
- 2025 Swanson -22.33 Kelly -26 Suzuki -27
And with that, here are the final H&G standings for 2026. Bottom to top, the way it should be done.
Heroes and Goats: (full/final standings)
- Nico Hoerner -18
- Caleb Thielbar -17.5
- Dansby Swanson -17
- Seiya Suzuki -17
- Jameson Taillon -13
- Edward Cabrera -12.5
- Phil Maton -10
- Ryan Zeferjahn -8.5
- Jacob Webb -8
- Ethan Roberts -8
- Pedro Ramirez -8
- Ryan Rolison -7
- Corbin Martin -5
- Michael Busch -4
- Jordan Wicks -3
- Jake Woodford -3
- Justin Dean -2.5
- Matt Shaw -2
- B.J. Murray -2
- Antoine Kelly -2
- Hunter Harvey -2
- Hobie Milner -1.5
- Colin Rea -1
- Miguel Amaya -1
- Gabriel Arias -1
- Drew Pomeranz -1
- Scott Kingery -1
- Tyler Ferguson -1
- Moises Ballesteros -0.5
- Clay Holmes 0
- James Triantos +0.5
- Ty Blach +1
- Braxton Garrett +2
- Bryse Wilson +2
- Cade Horton +2
- Gavin Hollowell +2
- Daniel Palencia +3
- Kevin Alcantara +3
- David Peterson +4
- Matthew Boyd +5.5
- Tyrone Taylor +8
- Ian Happ +8.5
- Trent Thornton +10
- Aaron Civale +10
- Michael Conforto +10
- Javier Assad +11
- Carson Kelly +11.5
- Ben Brown +13.5
- Shōta Imanaga +15
- Pete Crow-Armstrong +25.5
- Alex Bregman +26
At a quick glance here, Alex Bregman was obviously able to make the most impact among free agents, Pete Crow-Armstrong among returning players, Ben Brown was the most unfortunate of the injuries, Javier Assad the most impact of the Iowa shuttle players, Aaron Civale the most impact of the in-season acquisitions, Tyrone Taylor of the deadline day acquisitions, Bryse Wilson the most of the in season waiver wire pickups (and eligible to be on the Milwaukee Brewers postseason roster).
So there you have it. It was a thrilling chapter to add to Heroes and Goats. We’ve had a few boring finishes, but 2026 becomes the year of the last game being decisive and the smallest ever margin of victory. It is fitting and enjoyable to me that the two men most responsible for the on field performance of this team finished number one and two. That doesn’t mean it is homogenous. There are a number of players near the bottom of the standings who I think are largely irreplaceable on this team. And if you go back up and browse history, some amazing Cubs have graced the bottom three in the past.
It feels safe to say that PCA will emerge once again as the favorite to capture this award in 2027, but here’s to hoping that Bregman keeps him honest again and that a few pitchers get more actively into the race.
Thank you everyone for reading. Thank you everyone who took the time to comment. We tend to have a very insightful group here and I appreciate that.
