The Cubs clinched a postseason spot in Pittsburgh yesterday and the celebration was everything we’ve been waiting for since 2017, the last time the Cubs celebrated being a part of baseball in October. After all, the 2020 season was all sorts of weird, including limited celebrations. Plus, fans will recall that the Cubs were muted in their celebration of clinching a playoff spot in 2018, hoping they’d be able to celebrate winning a division title they fell just short of, losing game 163 to the Brewers
before losing the Wild Card Game to the Rockies. So it’s been eight years since a champagne soaked frenzy in the Cubs clubhouse.
No one was celebrating harder than injured closer Daniel Palencia:
It was not Matthew Boyd’s best outing of the season. The All Star lasted only three innings, giving up seven hits, and four runs, all of them earned. He walked two and struck out five. The Cubs made up for the lack of innings, by piling some runs on the Pirates pitching. But once again, the Cubs bullpen was basically perfect. The bullpen has been a strength this season. They’ve blown just 19 saves this season, which is solidly in the top third of teams in the league.
Speaking of Palencia, Cubs fans might have expected setup man Brad Keller to ascend to the ninth inning after his injury and for good reason. Keller has been solid this season, but exceptional since the All Star Break. In fact, he has only given up a single run since July 12, a go-ahead home run to Nick Fortes last Saturday. Since the All Star Break he has a 35.6 percent strikeout rate coupled with an 8.0 percent walk rate combines for a 27.6 percent K-BB, which definitely puts him in closer territory.
That said, the player in the Cubs bullpen with the best K-BB rate is the man who wound up with the save in last night’s game: trade deadline acquisition Andrew Kittredge. Since joining the Cubs on August 1, Kittredge has struck out 37.7 percent of batters while walking only 4.3 percent of batters for a 33.3 percent K-BB.
Now, admittedly, month long K-BB rates are pretty volatile and while only two relievers have put up better than 30 percent K-BB rates over the course of the season this year (Aroldis Chapman at 32.6 percent and Mason Miller at 31.3 percent) 10 have done it since August 1. Notably, Miller is the only qualified pitcher in baseball with a K-BB rates in the 40 percent range at 44.8 percent.
Back to the Cubs, though. Manager Craig Counsell talks a lot about getting 27 outs and while he’ll likely still mix and match at the end of games. Both Keller and Kittredge have two saves a piece in the Cubs last seven games. That said, if you’re trying to read the tea leaves of who could close for the Cubs while Palencia is on the IL, it makes a lot of sense to look to the guy who is striking out the most batters while walking the fewest batters to close out games.
