The Cubs had been winning more frequently against right-handed starters than left. Jose Quintana had only allowed one homer. He had won all of his starts this year. And none of those things are true any longer. The Cubs took him deep three times in rapid succession, scoring six runs in all against him and sending him home a loser for the first time in 2025.
Notch another series win. This team is stacking them. I think the last time this team was this good was in early 2021. Oof. That’s a downer. That team fell apart on its way to trading away all of its biggest stars. I’ll eat my hat if this team goes that way. I’ve been saying all along that this team is special. I’m not counting any chickens, but this team will run away with the Central division with relatively decent health. There are going to be injuries. But as long as they don’t pile up, no one in the Central has this kind of firepower.
I’ve refrained from commenting much on payroll and player acquisition. I don’t choose to spend a lot of energy on that. But, this team is going to put a lot of pressure on the front office to look for ways to add, be it from the bargain rack or the premium store. I’m a realist. I know the challenge that the Mets and Dodgers will bring later on. The Cubs have the clearest path to a deep run by way of playing in the league’s weakest division. The best way to force that issue is to just keep winning.
The Cubs have won four of five on this six-game road trip. A few years ago I talked about getting greedy. Not settling. This is a great time for that. The Brewers will bounce at some point. Kick them while they are down. Sweep this series and get back home. This week will see the Giants in Chicago and then the Mets in New York. There aren’t many gimmes. Take this one.
Pitch Counts:
Cubs: 132, 31 batters (14.67 PPI/4.26 PPB)
Brewers: 153, 37 (17 PPI/4.14 PPB)
The interesting thing here is that the Brewers actually had a pretty solid plate approach in the game. But half of the equation is extending at bats in a productive way, They made the Cubs work for each out. But you can see that with 31 batters, the Cubs faced only four batters over the minimum. Long plate appearances, no baserunners. Two runs. Not going to win many games.
The Cubs didn’t particularly wear Quintana out. 91 pitches over five innings isn’t extravagant. The problem for him was the three homers, accounting for five of the six runs. The Cubs are hitting a prodigious number of homers. So much so that it hasn’t been obvious that the team hasn’t been stealing bases this week. Selective aggression at the plate and on the bases. This team is pushing a lot of really good buttons.
Three Stars:
Pete Crow-Armstrong will not be robbed by the WPA Gods today. Three homers in the first two games of this series. This one with two on was a real game changer. You could feel all of the momentum shift to the Cubs. There’s a lot of baseball to play. PCA is a rapidly budding superstar.
Jameson Taillon is such an interesting pitcher. It always looks to me like he’s throwing a lot of pitches and not really dominating. And then many times, you look up and he’s thrown six innings, allowed three hits, a walk and two runs. And he’s notching a win. He did strike out five.
Carson Kelly, the fairy tale has not ended yet. A hit and two walks in four plate appearances. He scored a run.
Game 34, May 3: Cubs 6, Brewers 2 (21-13)
Fangraphs
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
Superhero: Pete Crow-Armstrong (.197). 1-4, HR, 3 RBI, R
Hero: Jameson Taillon (.094). 6 IP, 22 BF, 3 H, BB, 2 ER, 5 K (W 2-1)
Sidekick: Justin Turner (.074). 1-3, RBI
THREE GOATS:
Play Game: Seiya Suzuki (-.050). 0-4
Game: Jon Berti (-.020). 0-3, BB
Kid: Michael Busch (-.004). 0-1
WPA Play of the Game: PCA’s three-run homer with one out in the fourth turned a tie game into a three-run lead. (.224)
*Brewers Play of the Game: Brice Turang batted with a runner on second and two outs in the third inning, the Cubs up one. He singled and a run scored, tying the game. (.112)
Poll
Who was the Cubs Player of the Game?
This poll is closed
22%
Jameson Taillon
(52 votes)
0%
Ian Happ (2-5, R)
(2 votes)
0%
Brad Keller (2 IP, 6 BF, H, K)
(1 vote)
0%
Someone else (leave your suggestion in the comments)
(0 votes)
228 votes total
Yesterday’s Winner: Ben Brown (147 of 288 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 +16
Shōta Imanaga +8
Miguel Amaya +7
Ian Happ/Jameson Taillon +6
2 Players at -5
Nate Pearson -6
Matt Shaw -7
Ben Brown -8
Dansby Swanson -11
Up Next: The third and final game of the series. Shōta Imanaga (3-1, 2.77, 39 IP) makes his eighth start for the Cubs. Last time out, he was a winner as he threw five shutout innings against the Pirates. He’ll look to continue this Cubs surge.
28-year-old righty Freddy Peralta (3-2, 2.52, 39⅓ IP) also makes his eighth start in a battle of pitchers with similar results to date. Freddy just beat the White Sox in Chicago earlier in the week. He three six innings and allowed two earned runs.
This looks like a good one. Hopefully, the Cubs stay hot and the Brewers cold.