2024 Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 126

I promise I’ll get back to normal, but I’m heading to Miami early tomorrow. After what was essentially a 13-hour travel day on Sunday, a 4.5-hour drive on Wednesday morning is just what I need. And then the drive back on Thursday. I should be back to normal by about Sunday. Tonight was bowling and Thursday night was a board meeting. Three jobs is a fun challenge.

Anyway, you’re not here to hear about me. You want to hear what the Cubs have to say and what WPA has to say about their efforts. On Tuesday night, the Cubs were back in action, continuing their season dominance against the AL. Despite the setback in Cleveland last week (which I can magically block out), the Cubs are now 24-14 against American League teams. Has anyone tried to request a move? At 10 games over .500, you could argue that the Cubs are only 2½ out of the final AL wild-card spot. Unfortunately, nothing works that way.

Hopefully in 2024, it will be undeniable that Javier Assad is the better of the two Javiers who played in this game. But Assad still has a lot of work to do to even come close to the place Baez has in my heart. The Cueto game in 2016 is the only playoff game I’ve ever been to, so Baez is responsible for my fondest live memory. The Baez era was one of my favorites in all my years as a Cubs fan.

Assad was certainly the better of the two on Tuesday night. He got off to a strong start, his best since returning from a previous injury. Baez struck out four times in four attempts. The move to Detroit seems to have stunted his career. That’s sad for me to see. I’m not sure the Cubs front office gets enough credit for their decision on when to throw players out.

I think Assad is the first star of the night with one out after six innings of work, one run allowed, six hits, one walk and seven strikeouts.

Second is Cody Bellinger, and if you switched them around, I can totally understand that. Two hits, one of them a game-winning two-run double.

Dansby Swanson is my third star of the night. His solo home run gave the Cubs some breathing room in the first game after Hector Neris. The Cubs only managed five hits and four walks. A few combinations, a home run, a double and a walk were the key to extending the meager production to three runs.

*Note: Shota Imanaga’s start on August 12 had a WPA of -.490, the 10th lowest of the season so far.

Game 126, August 20: Cubs 3, Tigers 1 (62-64)

Fangraphs

As a reminder, Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA ratings and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Cody Bellinger (.228).
• Hero: Javier Assad (.181). 5⅔ IP, 23 batters, 6 H, BB, R, 7 K (W 6-3)
• Buddy: Dansby Swanson (.119).

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Seiya Suzuki (-.116).
• Goat: Isaac Paredes (-.101).
• Child: Miguel Amaya (-.072).

WPA move of the game: Cody Bellinger’s two-run double in the fifth. (.260)

*Tigers’ play of the game: Dillon Dingler hit a triple in the fifth inning, the Tigers led by one. (.102)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Sunday’s winners: Shōta Imanaga received 115 out of 136 votes.

Overall Rizzo Award score: (Top 5/Bottom 5)

The award is named after Anthony Rizzo, who won the category three times out of the first four years it was introduced and four times overall. He also earned the highest season total of all time at +65.5. The points scale ranges from three points for a superhero to minus three points for a goat.

• Shōta Imanaga +17.5
• Seiya Suzuki +12,5
• Ben Brown/Mark Leiter Jr. +11
• Porter Hodge +10
• Adbert Alzolay -10
• Pete Crow-Armstrong -10.5
• Kyle Hendricks/Miguel Amaya -11
• Christopher Morel -20.5

*Suzuki dropped four places during my absence, Taillon also dropped four places and fell out of the top 5. The last five places remained much more stable. Since last night’s game, Bellinger moves up to +7, Assad to 9.5, Swanson to -6. Suzuki fell further to second place, Paredes to -7, Hoerner to 0.

Next: Jameson Taillon will start the second game of the series. The Cubs are still flirting with getting back to .500, but they just can’t seem to get there. This is another opportunity to get back to one under par. They’ve only hit one under par once since June 6. Let’s do it twice.