Well, that game was at least a little differently shaped. Sort of. The Cubs broke out to a three-run lead after both starters were excellent. Then the porous Cub bullpen slowly gave back the lead with three different relievers being charged with a run each. But they scored in the tenth and held on. A last at-bat win for this team isn’t odd. That makes 11 of them now by my count. Nine walk-offs and two road wins in their last turn at the plate. That’s 25 percent of the team’s wins. Wow. So different, but not that different. This is a script they’ve followed at home.
Trent Thornton became the eighth different Cub reliever with a save in the first half. Anyone know the Cub record for different players recording saves in a season is? An even harder search would be what the record is at the intersection of most different players with a save and fewest saves. This was the team’s 12th save among 44 wins. Eight players to record 12 saves. Oh and the third intersection? The team is actually good, definitely record wise.
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The Cubs swept a season series with the Mets for the first time since 2015. World Series championship in 2027 confirmed. Get your tickets now and place your bets. Surely there is some causation/correlation there, right? This team has so many contradictions. It’s a crazy wild ride. 10 wins in 13 games to finish the first half. Put otherwise, in two stretches, totaling 36 games, they won 30. In the other 45 games, they won 14. 83 percent winning percentage on the peaks and 33 percent winning percentage in the valleys. Unbelievable.
There are so many contradictions that I don’t know what to think of this team. The sum appears better than the parts. I somehow think this team ended up underachieving in the first half while also headed for a second half collapse due to the absolute lack of any frontline pitching. You can’t reasonably expect any of Cade Horton, Justin Steele, Ben Brown or Edward Cabrera to make significant contributions the remainder of this season. How is this team not headed for collapse?
And at the same time, I feel like a fool if I totally write this team off. Their offense has been one of the better units and I could argue they’ve underperformed. Is anyone other than Pete Crow-Armstrong having a particularly good season offensively? Other than being elite at taking walks, this offense hasn’t been that good. Is that modern baseball? Or should they actually be better in the second half? Can they hit enough to stay competitive? I don’t know how good this team really is. But I do know they are a lot of fun to follow. You know, other than when they make you want to pull your hair out.
Three Positives:
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Pete Crow-Armstrong had two of the Cubs six hits. He drove in the decisive run with a 10th inning double.
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Trent Thornton locked down the 10th inning, facing the minimum.
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Game 81, June 25: Cubs 4, Mets 3 (44-37)
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
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Superhero: Trent Thornton (.445). IP, 3 BF (Sv 1)
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Hero: Matthew Boyd (.249). 4.2 IP, 21 BF, 4 H, 4 BB, 0 ER, 4 K
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Sidekick: Pete Crow-Armstrong (.242). 2-5, 2B, RBI
THREE GOATS:
WPA Play of the Game: Pete Crow-Armstrong’s RBI-double with one out in the tenth. (.290)
Mets Play of the Game: Jared Young’s solo homer off of Phil Maton leading off the seventh inning. (.237)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Game 79 Winner: Dansby Swanson received 148 of 153 votes.
Game 80 Winner: Dansby Swanson received 103 of 144 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.
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Jacob Webb/Jameson Taillon -8
Up Next: It’s best to not think about this weekend series. The Cubs won four straight and nine of 13 and then charitably forfeited the next three. Win one. Any one. That would be such a triumph at this point. Colin Rea (5-5, 4.99) vs. Jacob Misiorowski (8-3, 1.45). A totally reasonable matchup. A great way to spend my Friday night. Have I ever mentioned I have friends there who are rabid Brewers fans (and Packers and everything else Wisconsin, woohoo). Yep. There are going to be no unreasonable takes on a Friday night.
Gonna have to sweep this series to keep rolling to 10 straight. Those are the rules, right?
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