I just can’t keep saying it happens. It happens that a team that played in the World Series last year finds some pride and comes off the mat for an 8-6 win after a 5-0 deficit. All of these “it happens” moments just keep piling up. Just one more disappointment on the stack.
Over the course of a season, if you are a longtime baseball fan, you’ll get echoes of this season and that season and the other season. The weight of baseball memory fills in a lot of blanks. I am feeling some of the 2023 Cubs
vibes lately. Not to bring back bad memories, but that was a team that let just so many games slip through their fingertips. And then when the dust settled, they finished one game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks. A team that swept them in September. A team that got hot and rolled all of the way to the World Series. An 84-win team.
That is the atmosphere that MLB is intentionally cultivating. It is very much a good thing for MLB for an occasional 84-win team to roll to the World Series. If the Series every year features teams that win 95 games, then there is still a reason to mail it in after the All-Star break. But MLB has allowed more and more teams into the postseason. They want teams staying in contention.
That’s the frustrating thing. We’ve seen that this team can get hot. We’ve seen the things this team is capable of when things land just right. You have to play it out. But this team doesn’t have enough of the right horses. They don’t have enough starting pitching. They don’t have enough relief pitching. They don’t have enough truly elite offensive players.
Not good enough. I’ve said that a few times lately too, right? This team has themes and rarely are they good ones. All too many times in Cubs history a special player having a special season goes to waste. This season increasingly feels like one long lost opportunity and adventure in disappointment.
Oh, and as I write, the team is in a virtual four-way tie for the last Wild Card spot. So for all of the ineptitude, they are right in the thick of things. Multiple teams are going to have crushing disappointment at the end of this season. There are 12 NL teams either holding playoff spots or within three games of one as we tip toe towards the midpoint of the season. How many of those 12 teams will stay in the fight deep into September.
This team is simultaneously not good enough and also likely to be one of those teams in the fight until the end. This will be one long ride. And at any point if this team actually got red hot, they could be in comfortably. But that isn’t how this script is going to play out. Buckle up.
Three Positives:
- Pete Crow-Armstrong had two hits, one a two-run homer and drew a walk.
- Colin Rea: 5.1 innings, three hits, no walks, no runs.
- Dansby Swanson had a single, a double and drew a walk. He scored once.
Game 77, June 20:
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
- Superhero: Pete Crow-Armstrong (.170). 2-4, HR, BB, 2 RBI, R
- Hero: Colin Rea (.164). 5.1 IP, 19 BF, 3 H, 0 BB, 0 R, 3 K
- Sidekick: Ryan Rolison (.113). 0.2 IP, 1 BF
THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat: Jacob Webb (-.576). 0.2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2K (L 1-2)
- Goat: Caleb Thielbar (-.203). 0.1 IP, 3 BF, H, BB
- Kid: Michael Busch (-.114). 1-4, BB, DP
Jacob Webb will end up as one of the bottom two WPA game scores of the season when this is finalized. He also owns the other one, back on April 5. With the changes to way WPA has become available, the easiest thing for me to do will be to write up a separate piece at the end of the month on really high or really low WPA scores.
WPA Play of the Game: Kazuma Okamoto’s three-run homer with one out in the eighth broke a 5-5 tie. (.357)
Cubs Play of the Game: Matt Shaw’s three-run homer with no outs in the second gave the Cubs an early three run lead. (.183)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Game 76 Winner: Carson Kelly, 99 votes (138 total)
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 +22
- Pete Crow-Armstrong +16
- Ben Brown +13.5
- Carson Kelly +10.5
- Michael Conforto +9
- Edward Cabrera -9.5
- Phil Maton -10
- Dansby Swanson -11
- Caleb Thielbar -13
- Seiya Suzuki -19.5
Up Next: The third and final game of the series between these two teams. Shōta Imanaga (4-6, 4.26) starts for the Cubs. In three June starts, he has no decisions but a 3.78 ERA over 16.2 innings. Ex-Cub prospect Dylan Cease (4-3, 2.71) gets the Jays start. In a disappointing Jays season, Cease has been a bright spot. This will be a tough one. In two June starts he has allowed one run over 11 innings. He missed time in late May and early June, but has bounced back very strongly. He’s 4-2 with a 2.47 in eight career starts against the Cubs (in the regular season).
