On Friday night, the Cubs visited St. Louis. A favorable pitching matchup was on tap. The team was coming off of a nice win and then a day off. That’s a recipe for success, no?

Apparently not. The Cubs defense wasn’t charged with any errors. I can’t specifically recall any terrific plays either. But the defense was good save for one weird play involving Matthew Boyd which was undoubtedly thrown off by the ball getting caught in the webbing of his glove. You might give the defense something like a B or charitably B+. Nothing spectacular, but didn’t drag the team down either.

That’s the good news. Starting pitching wasn’t great, allowing three runs over five innings. Matthew Boyd allowed seven hits, the majority of those came with two strikes. He battled. He hung in there. In the end, he didn’t get it done. You might go C or C-? He didn’t lose this game for them, but he didn’t dominate either.

The bullpen? Two runs allowed by Ryan Brasier in the sixth inning, mostly extinguishing any remaining hope of a comeback. The bullpen continues to allow homers and continues to allow runs in general. Nate Pearson got through two scoreless, but it felt like it could bust wide open at any time. You might go D or D- for the bullpen?

Baserunning? It was a non-factor. One base taken, second to third on a fly ball. No stolen bases. One out on the bases, the old contact play from third with one out. The Cubs defense made one of those outs at the plate too. Baserunning gets a C for not particularly contributing, but not being a detriment to the team.

Bats? One walk. No extra base hits. Plenty of traffic, but couldn’t cash any of them in. The team flat struggled with runners in scoring position. Give it a D+? Credit for creating the traffic. But eventually, you just have to cash some of it in.

The net? So many struggles in so many ways. The stealing has mostly vanished. The slugging has mostly vanished. The dominant bullpen? Long gone.

The Brewers won their seventh straight. That team shows few signs of slowing down. They are now five full games ahead of the Cubs. Fortunately, the Cubs remain seven games up on the Reds and eight on two more teams. The Cubs will almost certainly be a playoff team, but is increasingly unlikely to have any chance in the division.

The crazy thing is that the 2025 season is strangely broken. The Brewers are jumping way out in front of everyone, then the Cubs are within one game of everyone else in baseball. The Cubs season is being colored by how amazing the run the Brewers are on. Next to the Brewers, the Cubs look like they are totally falling apart. Compared to the other top teams in baseball, the Cubs pretty much fit right in.

You might think four or five of those teams are going to find another gear in October. And maybe they will. That aside, the Cubs figure to have a fighting chance against the rest of them. Within the next week or two, they figure to add Jameson Taillon, Javier Assad, Miguel Amaya and maybe Porter Hodge.

What they really need is peak Kyle Tucker and Pete Crow-Armstrong back.

Cubs: 154, 36 BF (8 IP)Cardinals: 130, 36 BF

The Cubs check in just under 20 pitches per inning. That’s the territory where five runs in eight innings almost feels like you were a little lucky. Nate Pearson threw 40 pitches. I’d not be surprised if they do something with his roster spot.

About 14.5 pitches per inning for the Cardinals. Adequate but nothing amazing. You’d certainly have expected them to allow a run or two. None of the three Cardinals relievers threw more than 20 pitches. We could see all three of them again this weekend.

Ian Happ. 2-4Kyle Tucker 1-3, HBPNico Hoerner 1-3, BB

Game 115, August 8: Cardinals 5, Cubs 0 (66-49)

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

Superhero: Ian Happ (.074). 2-4Hero: Nico Hoerner (.063). 1-3, BBSidekick: Dansby Swanson (.032). 1-4Billy Goat: Michael Busch (-.,127). 0-4Goat: Carson Kelly (-.103). 1-4Kid: Pete Crow-Armstrong (-.095). 0-4

WPA Play of the Game: With the bases loaded and one out in the second inning, the Cardinals were up one. Matthew Boyd got Garrett Hampton to ground into a 1-2-3 double play. (.127)

*Cardinals Play of the Game: Masyn Winn batted with a runner on first and no outs in the second, the game scoreless. He doubled, sending the runner to third. (.109)

Previous Winner: Cade Horton received 225 out of 276 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.

Kyle Tucker +27Matthew Boyd +23Shōta Imanaga +18Jameson Taillon/Miguel Amaya +11Carson Kelly -10Julian Merryweather -15Ben Brown -16Dansby Swanson -20.33Seiya Suzuki -28

Up Next: Saturday night in St. Louis, these two teams meet for game two of the series. Colin Rea (8-5, 4.23, 110.2 IP) starts for the Cubs. Over his last seven, he is 4-2 with a 3.86 (37.1), so he’s trending in a positive direction. He beat the Cardinals in July in Chicago, allowing one run on two hits and two walks in 6.2 innings. Rea has been slightly better on the road (4.12 to 4.30), and at night (4.08 to 4.30).

26-year-old Andre Pallante (6-8, 4.57, 122 IP) starts for the Cardinals. Pallante was a fourth round pick in 2019 (125 overall). This is the most innings he’s ever thrown at the big league level, having passed his career high during his last outing. He lost to the Cubs in St. Louis in June, allowing two runs on seven hits over five innings.

Let’s bounce back and get a win.