Another day, another disappointing Cub performance. If you didn’t understand the concept of momentum and the next day’s starting pitcher, this season is hammering it into you. The Cubs have a bunch of back of the rotation pitchers, and so each day is like flipping a coin. On one side, there is adequate starting pitcher performance, on the other there is inadequate. Tonight, the coin landed on inadequate.
It’s not a guaranteed win either way or a guaranteed loss either way. But, it’s games like this
where the pitching digs a hole and ultimately, it was too deep to get back into the game after Edward Cabrera had allowed five unanswered runs. There aren’t enough games where the pitching locks it down and makes the game winnable. There aren’t enough games where the bats stack runs and make the game winnable.
At least Pete Crow-Armstrong is fun to watch, right? He and Michael Busch and Ben Brown feel like three guys trying to win all on their own. Matt Shaw feels like he wants to be part of the group. Pedro Ramirez maybe wants to tag along. But there isn’t much consistency anywhere else. Suddenly, it feels tragic that there is so much money tied up in veterans, because it feels like a real youth movement has started. But third base, shortstop, second base all feel like positions locked up for guys who have maybe already played most or all of their best baseball. Throwing Nico Hoerner into that group almost feels like a betrayal. To myself, if no one else. I applauded that deal. Nico is historically my favorite current Cub.
One shouldn’t ever buy too much of what a player looks like when they are on an absolute heater. That would go for Pete Crow-Armstrong. The only thing there is that he also did this for several months last year. There is PCA, a dynamic superstar player who is one of the best players in all of baseball. And there is Pete Crow-Armstrong, a glove-first speedy player with some pop. Those two personas appear to duel. There was a good stretch at the end of 2024, a great stretch to start 2025 and then another great stretch for the last month or so. But when he gets out of the groove, he’s pretty ordinary at the plate.
That same way, you don’t want to buy too much of what a player looks like on an absolute cooler. That’s Nico Hoerner, Dansby Swanson and Alex Bregman right now. That’s a lot of dead weight for a lineup. How many of the three rally to anywhere near the numbers from their career averages? That’s probably the answer for if this team competes. I believe at least two of the three have to get it in gear and have some progression to the averages. It’s conceivable the Shaw and Ramirez can cover for one of the three.
Three Positives:
- Miguel Amaya had a single and what should have been an RBI-double. Some day, an umpire is going to have the courage to use discretion properly. There was no world in which the Rockies were ever going to stop Matt Shaw from scoring from first on that hit. Also, that ball was visible in the ivy on TV. No harm, that run did score.
- Seiya Suzuki also had a single and a double.
- Pete Crow-Armstrong stayed hot with a solo homer leading off the game. He’s now back on pace to be a 30/30 player.
Game 74, June 16: Rockies 5, Cubs 2 (38-36)
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
- Superhero: Miguel Amaya (.107). 2-3, 2B
- Hero: Seiya Suzuki (.043). 2-4, 2B
- Sidekick: Trent Thornton (.041). 1.1 IP, 5 BF, 2 BB
THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat: Edward Cabrera (-.205). 4.1 IP, 18 BF, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 ER, 3 K (L 4-4)
- Goat: Ryan Rolison (-.113). 1.2 IP, 6 BF, H, 3 K, WP
- Kid: Nico Hoerner (-.099). 0-4.
WPA Play of the Game: TJ Rumfield hit a two-run homer with no outs in the fourth to give the Rockies a 3-2 lead. (.179)
Cubs Play of the Game: Pete Crow-Armstrong’s homer leading off the bottom of the first gave the Cubs an early lead. (.102)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Game 73 Winner: Pete Crow-Armstrong received 184 of 230 votes.
Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)
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.
- Michael Busch +25
- Pete Crow-Armstrong +15
- Ben Brown +12.5
- Michael Conforto +10
- Trent Thornton +8.5
- Edward Cabrera -9.5
- Phil Maton -10
- Caleb Thielbar -11
- Dansby Swanson -12
- Seiya Suzuki -21.5
Up Next: The third and final game of this series and the sixth and final game of the season series. The Cubs need to win to salvage a season split with the lowly Rockies. Javier Assad (4-1, 3.99) starts for the Cubs. He’s thrown 12.1 scoreless innings since returning to the big league squad. 23-year-old Sean Sullivan will make his second career start and appearance. In his debut, he threw three scoreless against the A’s in Las Vegas. That’s quite an accomplishment the way that park has played. The young left-hander was a second round pick of the Rockies in 2023 (46th overall).
