2024 Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 56 (2024)

If any of you are out there wondering when the first time I’m going to express real frustration and if this loss did it, nope. Not yet. I have two central thoughts following this one. First, I’ll admit to being jealous of the Brewers organization. Second, I’m encouraged that there were some signs of life out of the Cubs offense for the second consecutive day.

On the first front, I’ve always been jealous of teams like the Cardinals and Brewers in baseball or the Packers and Patriots in football. Teams that seem to be impervious to the passage of time and the cycles of ups and downs that all of the other teams seem to deal with. For most of the teams on this far from exhaustive list, attrition appears to be finally taking its toll. But if you are near the same age that I am, you’ve watched 70 percent of the teams go through cycles of successful years and rebuilding years. There’s a not small group of teams that seem to always be rebuilding. You know this well, because virtually every Chicago team lives in this neighborhood. Then there are a small group of teams that seem to always be a contender.

Since 2017, the Brewers have had one losing season. That was the pandemic season of 2020 and though I’ve entirely wiped that season from my memory, the Brewers played in the playoffs with a 29-31 record. Craig Counsell was hired during the 2015 season and his first one there was a rough one. But I think there was a clear shift in organizational philosophy that Counsell was part of. But clearly not all of it. It’s still relatively early, but the Brewers have the highest winning percentage that they’ve had since 2011. That season, they won a franchise record 96 games. They matched that number in 2018 with the benefit of a one game playoff.

The thing about this extended contention window the Brewers have had is the lack of franchise level players. Who were the dominant players of that era? There’s not a guy that is going to come out of that group who is going to even merit serious Hall of Fame conversation. If I understand all of the rules for the ballot properly, Christian Yelich and Ryan Braun are two guys who will reach the ballot. Braun won’t last there, tainting a Hall of Very Good resume with an ugly PED incident. Yelich might hang for a while as someone who seems both extremely successful and a decent guy. Maybe William Contreras is starting on a trajectory?

But that’s really the point. They continue to get these guys that have two or three season where they look like they are going to be perennial stars. They flame out. But then there are new potential stars behind those guys. Nothing is ever quite as ugly as watching the Chicago Bears trying to draft, develop and keep a decent quarterback. But even beyond that ineptitude, ordinary franchises will usually have time gaps between the loss of a significant contributor and the player that ultimately picks up that torch. Occasionally there is a seamless transition. But these transitions look routine for Milwaukee. And they do it all without spending a lot of money.

Yeah. I’m jealous.

Anyway, you didn’t come here for a 500-word ode to the Brewers but you got one anyway. Our Cubs? The stupid Brewers had to wreck our shiny new toy. Shōta Imanaga was obviously not going to just dominate in perpetuity. But none of us would have hesitated to ask for at least one more start. Circling around to the first point, being a Cubs fan means always fearing the worst. Did the longer rest between the starts throw him out of rhythm? Is something wrong? Being a Cubs fan includes often wondering anytime a player has a rough game if there a larger problem and more struggle ahead.

That’s totally irrational. Right? He’s going to be fine? You had to know that with his profile the bad games might be really ugly. His achilles is likely to be the long ball. It was last night for sure. I don’t think it’s going to be a huge problem. But probably something that will pop from time to time. And surely not indicative of anything larger. But I don’t think I’m ever totally capable of not wondering and worrying. At least a little.

My takeaway from this game though is the six runs the Cubs put on the board. I do not care that most of the six were put up in low leverage atmosphere. This team hasn’t been scoring in any atmosphere, so I’m going to take the minor skirmish win in an otherwise lopsided loss. My three positives will all come from the offensive side.

1. Ian Happ. I wondered if his painfully slow start to 2024 coincided at least a little with the absence of NL Central teams from the Cubs schedule. His assault on the Reds gets the most publicity but he’s laid waste to three of the four central teams with only the Brewers keeping him to normal numbers. On May 3, the Cubs basically opened division play for the year. From May 3 to present, Ian has a line of .247/.322/.481 (wRC+ 128). Two more hits last night, one a homer. He scored two and drove in two. His season wRC+ has reached 107. His BB% is back in line with his career numbers (with a slight improvement), his K% in line (striking out a tad more). Only his ISO is off, down even from his lower ISO of the last two years. He’s slowly reverting back to the same very good player that many of you just don’t like.
2. Cody Bellinger also had two more hits, one a double. He drove in a run and stole a base. Cody is the same story as Ian. Walking a little more often, striking out a little more often, power down. As the weather warms, we’ll get a better indication as to if we are looking at numbers depressed by early season weather or some sort of larger offensive approach change for the team.
3. I could put Mike Tauchman here as I seem to do every day, but we’ll give love to the other Cubs outfielder. Seiya Suzuki had two hits and stole a base. Just because I’m curious, walks down, strikeouts up, power down. So it certainly feels like the Cubs are trying to embrace a really patient approach at the plate. The broadly down power numbers feels like a byproduct of early season weather but we’ll have to see if a decrease in aggressiveness at the plate is reducing some quality of contact.

Game 56, May 29: Brewers 10, Cubs 6 (28-28)

Fangraphs

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

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Ian Happ (.113). 2-4, HR, SF, 2 RBI, 2 R
• Hero: Patrick Wisdom (.063). 0-1, HBP, RBI
• Sidekick: Seiya Suzuki (.035). 2-5, SB

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Shōta Imanaga (-.376). 4⅓ IP, 22 batters, 8 H, BB, 7 ER, K (L 5-1)
• Goat: Christopher Morel (-.098). 0-5, RBI
• Kid: Yan Gomes (-.085). 0-4

WPA Play of the Game: Christian Yelich hit a two-run homer with one out in the first inning to give the Brewers an early lead. (.150)

*Cubs Play of the Game: Ian Happ homered with one out in the second to cut the Cubs deficit to one. (.093)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Yesterday’s Winner: This one featured a win and multiple contributors, but the choice was an obvious one with Ben Brown picking up 322 out of 328 votes.

Rizzo Award Cumulative 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.

• Ben Brown +14
• Shōta Imanaga +12
• Javier Assad +10.5
• Jameson Taillon +9
• Mark Leiter Jr. +6
• Matt Mervis/Nico ho*rner -6
• Miguel Amaya/Christopher Morel -8
• Adbert Alzolay -10
• Kyle Hendricks -20

*Brown slides up into the top spot due to Imanaga’s rough outing. Morel drifts down towards the cellar.

Up Next: Jameson Taillon (3-2, 2.58) against Colin Rea (4-2, 3.98) in a quick turnaround to an afternoon game. Al will have the preview up for this one at 10:30 a.m. CT.