It’s always funny to me when finding my story feels like a visit to the psychiatrist. I’ve been flipping things over for a while and I feel like I’ve had a very patient psychiatrist who just patiently just kept asking for me to tell them more. Maybe scribbling a few notes, but not particularly interjecting in the story.
Until tonight, when that voice in my head finally spit out, this team is boring. I truly don’t mean that in the classic sense. This team is quite entertaining to watch. Captivating really. I mean, this is the best Cubs team since the 2016 championship team. I’m not experiencing fuzzy memory. The 2017 team got back to the NLCS and was a very good team. But that team had more struggles than this team does.
This team is vaguely boring to write about. Again, surely not for Al. Al gets to write a recap about a win, nearly every day. That’s fun. The complaint department seems closed more often than not. There just aren’t a lot of really strong storylines. What are we going to talk about today? The starting pitching was quite good. You’ll take Jameson Taillon’s performance every day and twice on Ernie Banks day. The bullpen threw 2⅔ and allowed a run.
I guess we could sweat Ryan Brasier, making his sixth appearance of the year and allowing his second run. 3.38 ERA on the season and 3.65 FIP. But a guy who’s faced 23 total batters? He’s what, the seventh reliever right now? Sixth, maybe? He’s not ready for the circle of trust. But he’s not banished to exile island either.
The offense? Scored early and added on. 10 hits, three walks, seven runs. I mean I guess we could talk about how five batters did all of the damage. But that’s kind of how it goes. Kyle Tucker’s thumb injury is the concern of the day, to be sure. Craig Counsell says it’s nothing. Tucker has a built in off day today. We’ll see if Craig rolls it into a second day with an night game Tuesday. Not insane. And most of the Cub regulars can probably use a day off over the next two weeks.
The message I want to get out there is to acknowledge and enjoy the good. It wasn’t a dominating homestand, though five wins in six games is a dominating result by any reasonable measure. The Cubs didn’t dominate the Rockies series. Then they lost the opener to the Reds. That presented a challenge. The Cubs answered the challenge. Their pitching staff dominated Saturday. Then the offense delivered the knockout blow Sunday.
This team keeps responding to challenges. You can’t ask more than that. The next two weeks look rough. 13 consecutive games, the first nine of those on the road. Two series against two of the best teams in baseball. Then the Pirates come in for four and you know you’ll see Paul Skenes somewhere in that series. You almost have to be thinking seven is the goal, six isn’t any disaster. I’m not going to be surprised if they win eight, Or more.
This team just keeps overcoming challenges and beating expectations. In case it wasn’t clear, when I say boring, I mean delightful.
Pitch Counts:
Reds: 160, 38 BF (8 IP)
Cubs: 142, 33 BF
The Cubs hit the 20 pitch per inning mark offensively. Unless both teams are over that, you’re going to win an awful lot when you push the opponent to that mark. Nick Martinez threw 94 pitches and was pulled mid-fifth. Two Reds relievers threw more than 20 pitches. It’s game three of a three-game series, so the long term is pretty much null. But, it was a dominating offensive performance. Kudos to the Reds bullpen for stopping the bleeding. The Cubs have turned an awful lot of these games into full blowouts.
As for the Cubs, Taillon pitches into the seventh yet again. He’s in a really great groove right now. Caleb Thielbar had a quick two out performance. Ryan Pressly had a fairly efficient (and extremely effective) eighth. Ryan Brasier had that rough ninth and threw 24 pitches. The Cubs pitching staff locked down a pretty good Reds team Saturday and Sunday at Wrigley Field.
Three Stars:
Pete Crow-Armstrong is my player of the game. He had three hits, three runs scored and two stolen bases. He also drove in one. Social media me is chuckling. There were people on social media delighted that he had a small handful of rough games. Then he had a pair of walks Saturday and a pivotal catch that very few guys could make, then wore the Reds out Sunday. I’ll talk about MVP candidates in September. But the man is a budding superstar.
Jameson Taillon pitched into the seventh. He allowed only three hits, a walk and two runs. Three straight strong starts and three straight wins.
Nico Hoerner had three hits, including a two-run single. He came into the game with a .414/.438/.517 line with runners in scoring position. That echoes my feeling that Nico is always the guy I want up with men on base.
I’ve committed a crime with this three. Michael Busch had a pair of hits, a pair of walks, a big two-run homer, and another RBI besides that. It’ll be fitting if you guys give him Player of the Game honors.
One last honorable mention. Ryan Pressly faced three batters and struck them all out. Ignoring one inning in silly time, Pressly has a 1.29 ERA in 21 innings. No one just gets to erase their worst game. But I’ll go on record: If someone is awesome all except for one historically bad outcome, I’m going to want that guy on my team.
Game 59, June 1: Cubs 7, Reds 3 (37-22)
Fangraphs
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
Superhero: Jameson Taillon (.195). 6⅓ IP, 23 BF, 3 H, BB, 2 ER, 2 K (W 5-3)
Hero: Michael Busch (.192). 2-2, HR, 2 BB, 3 RBI, R
Sidekick: Pete Crow-Armstrong (.182). 3-4, 3 R, RBI, 2 SB
THREE GOATS:
Billy Goat: Ian Happ (-.056). 0-5
Goat: Matt Shaw (-.044). 0-4
Kid: Reese McGuire (-.037). 0-4
WPA Play of the Game: Michael Busch’s two-run homer with two outs in the third gave the Cubs a four run lead. (.127)
*Reds Play of the Game: With two outs in the sixth, Elly De La Cruz hit a two-run homer, cutting the Cubs lead to three. (.059)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Poll
Who was the Cubs Player of the Game?
0%
Jameson Taillon
(0 votes)
0%
Pete Crow-Armstrong
(0 votes)
0%
Someone else (leave your suggestion in the comments)
(0 votes)
0 votes total
Yesterday’s Winner: Ben Brown received 245 of 262 votes (despite me listing nine options).
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 +20
Jameson Taillon +12
Shōta Imanaga/Drew Pomeranz/Miguel Amaya +11
Michael Busch -7.33
Seiya Suzuki -7.5
Ben Brown -11
Julian Merryweather -15
Dansby Swanson -18.33
Up Next: An off day Monday. The Cubs visit the 28-31 Nationals starting Tuesday for three games. Cade Horton (2-0, 3.98, 20⅓ IP) gets his fourth career start. He’s coming off of his longest start, facing one batter in the seventh. The Cubs have won all four games he’s pitched in.
33-year-old righty Trevor Williams (3-5, 5.69, 55⅓ IP) makes his 12th start of the season. The second round pick of the Marlins in 2013 (44th overall) made five starts in May (2-2, 5.68, 25⅓ IP). Talk about consistency. Last time out though, he threw six scoreless against a good Mariners team in Seattle, picking up a win. He can be very good. So far this year, he’s pitched better on the road (5.04 vs. 6.48). He lost a start against the Cubs at Wrigley last September, allowing one run on three hits over five innings.