That was one of the more frustrating games of the year. That’s a reasonably high bar too as there have been a lot of lousy, frustrating games. Watching the Cubs rally on two different occasions after Jacob Misiorowski was given the lead by the Brewers offense only to eventually come up (well) short. Just another frustrating day at the ballpark. The Cubs were 74-53 after taking the first two games of the series versus the White Sox on August 18. They are 4-9 since. Not the worst stretch of the season for the Cubs, but definitely one of them.
This one was frustrating on multiple levels. I made a reference to a game feeling like a rerun the other day. This is one of those games that happens a handful of times every year. The Cubs hit the ball hard it finds a glove. The Brewers hit the ball soft, it finds grass. It was pretty clearly a difficult night to pitch at Wrigley Field, particularly early in the game. The Brewers relievers were more less able to figure it out, the Cubs relievers were more or less not. Though in fairness, all of the runs that lost the game were charged to starter David Peterson.
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I always know that I’ve just about hit peak frustration with this team when I get to the point where they lose a game and my brain has a sour grapes response. As in, maybe this team shouldn’t make the playoffs, I wouldn’t enjoy it anyway. Yeah, that’s where I’m at right now. It all feels fatalistic.
I think it was right about that 13 games ago that I got comfortable with this team. I felt like they’d reached the point where they were kind of high functioning with all of their limitations. Like no lead was ever going to really be safe with the pitching staff. But also, they score a ton of runs so often that it’s just kind of okay.
I like to think of baseball sometimes as an X/Y axis with one axis being offense is bad/offense is good and the other axis is pitching is bad/pitching is good. Every team is dominant when you get good/good performance. Every team is putrid when you get bad/bad performance. So the first measure of how good your season is comes from having more games in the good/good section than in the bad/bad section. The Cubs have been very good at that.
The second measure of how good your season is comes from how well you do in the good/bad section and bad/good section. The Cubs do reasonably well when the offense is good but the pitching is rough. There aren’t a lot of pitching was good, offense was bad wins for this team. The whole saving grace for the team has been that the offense has been so good that the team is on the right side of the offense axis so consistently.
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This funk right now arises from too many games when the pitching is rough. That contrasts earlier in the year when the team had that 10-game losing streak. The pitching didn’t do a ton of favors, but that streak largely saw the offense sputtering. They scored just 25 runs during that 10-game skid and eight of those were in one game (and five in another). They have 91 runs in this 13-game stretch. The problem is that it is massively stratified. 60 runs in the four wins in that stretch and 31 runs in the nine losses.
Long story short, not good enough.
Three Positives:
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Alex Bregman had two hits, one a homer, and drove in four runs.
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Pete Crow-Armstrong had a single and drew two walks. He scored twice.
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Ryan Rolison faced five batters and got five outs. He and Caleb Thielbar were the only two effective Cub pitchers on the night.
Game 140, September 2: Brewers 9, Cubs 5 (78-62)
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Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
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Superhero: Alex Bregman (.290). 2-4, HR, 4 RBI, R
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Hero: Ryan Rolison (.209). 1.2 IP, 5 BF, K
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Sidekick: Caleb Thielbar (.030). IP, 3 BF, 2 K
THREE GOATS:
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Billy Goat: David Peterson (-.501). 3.2 IP, 23 BF, 7 H, 4 BB, 6 R, 4 K (L 4-2)
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Goat: Michael Busch (-.109). 0-4
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Kid: Nico Hoerner (-.096). 0-4
Note: Peterson’s WPA is 10th worst WPA game score of the season by a Cub. Year over year, those are mostly relievers, but occasionally a position player or starter will get in there. But this year all 10 of these are relievers. Recent reference, it was eight relievers and two starters in 2025. In 2024 it was three starters and seven relievers.
WPA Play of the Game: Alex Bregman’s two-run single in the second gave the Cubs a two run lead with two outs. (.185)
Cubs Play of the Game: William Contreras had an RBI-single with one out in the fourth, giving the Brewers a 6-5 lead. (.120)
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Cubs Player of the Game:
Game 139 Winner: Tyrone Taylor received 43 of 65 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.
Scoreboard Watching: Padres lose (five back of Cubs). Braves win (five up). Phillies lose (one up). Diamondbacks win (four back). Brewers win (nine up, magic number 14). Dodgers lose (four up).
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Up Next: The last of the four-game set with the Brewers. The Cubs will look to salvage a split. They are 2-4 to start this stretch of 13 games in 13 days. Kevin Gausman (8-11, 4.52) starts for the Cubs. He is 3-1 with a 5.14 as a Cub. Last time out, he won despite allowing five runs in five innings against the Reds. The Brewers scored three in five innings against him in April in Toronto.
24-year-old righty, Logan Henderson (9-2, 2.48) starts for the Brewers. He’s rolling, winning six of his last seven starts with a 2.09 ERA (43 innings). He last lost on August 10 at San Diego and had a quality start in that one (3 runs over 6.1 innings. He hasn’t allowed more than three runs in any of his 19 career starts. He only threw as many as six innings once before August, but then did so in all five August starts.
Once again, the matchup doesn’t look great on paper. Hopefully, Gausman keeps the team in the game. Many of the Brewers leverage relievers have now thrown in back-to-back games.
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