This game is why games like Monday hurt. Sometimes, it just isn’t your night. Tigers pitching stifled the Cubs Wednesday night. The result was a non-competitive 5-1 loss. The Cubs managed just four hits and one walk. Unless all of those hits are home runs, that just isn’t going to win many games. They did, in fact, get one homer and a double. With a homer and a double in there, you could maybe sequence it well and get two or three runs out of that output. But it’s extremely hard to win without offensive production. And so, it frustrates you that the Monday game was winnable and it slipped away.
The Tigers are trying to save their season in a year when the American League is particularly unimpressive. The Tigers sit with just the 11th best record. They are 6.5 games out of first in the AL Central. They are 4.5 games behind the Red Sox for the last Wild Card spot. You can understand some frustration and confusion for the Tigers in that just a few weeks ago the Red Sox were one of the teams they were ahead of. Surely, they are saying why not us and hoping they can get on a bit of a roll this week and not be sellers at the deadline. In reality, they are probably in the spot where you might do a “soft” sell. Possibly trade from the fringes of the roster, particularly where you might have a prospect that would come up and fill the spot.
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Regardless, this is the time of year when you can catch a team playing a little desperate. That didn’t work out particularly well for the Cubs in this series. Fortunately, they had that inspired Tuesday night first inning and got out with the one win. It ends with a 3-3 homestand which feels like a little lost opportunity against two AL Central opponents struggling to stay competitive. Ahead of a daunting 17-game stretch, it’s disappointing to be sure.
This is as good a spot as any for a perspective check. Four teams have better records than the Cubs. One team has the same record as the Cubs. The Cubs have sole possession of the first Wild Card spot. The Cubs are on pace for 90.5 wins. The Cubs are 4th in MLB in runs per game. They are 18th in runs allowed per game. That is the story of the season. The Cub offense pretty much has to show up every night or the team doesn’t win.
This next stretch will take more than a quarter of the remaining games off of the schedule.17 games in 17 days. Tough road games, daunting opposition, the heat of the summer. It’s all there. This is it really. If they can hang in there through this stretch, they should be able to get this across the finish line. Hopefully, healthy bodies start showing up during this stretch. Hopefully the front office adds meaningful depth to the roster. The Dodgers are going to look like an unclimbable mountain probably for years to come. The Brewers run a really tight ship. There aren’t going to be a ton of seasons where you are positioned better than this. Even getting into the playoffs and winning a series or two has value to the organization. You want to be one of those teams that is there every year. When it starts getting down to the final four teams every year, you want to be one of those teams. Fight the fight.
Three Positives and Pete:
Ryan Rolison threw a clean inning, striking out all three hitters.
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Game 102, July 22: Tigers 5, Cubs 1 (57-45)
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
Superhero: Ian Happ (.038). 2-3, BB, 2B
Hero/Sidekick: Seiya Suzuki/Ryan Rolison (.025). Suzuki: 1-4, HR, RBI, R; Rolison IP, 3 BF, 3 K
THREE GOATS:
Billy Goat: Colin Rea (-.212). 5 IP, 21 BF, 6 H, BB, 4 R, 5 K, HBP (L 7-7)
Kid: Michael Busch/Alex Bregman (-.074). Busch: 1-4, DP; Bregman: 1-4
WPA Play of the Game: Hao-Yu Lee’s three-run homer in the fourth basically put the game out of reach. (.307)
Cubs Play of the Game: Seiya Suzuki’s solo homer in the bottom of the first. (.104)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Game 101 Winner: David Peterson received 43 of 80 votes, nudging PCA (35 of 80).
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.
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Jameson Taillon/Phil Maton -10
Up Next: Game one of the 17-game gauntlet on Friday. They visit the Pirates (53-50). The Pirates swept the Brewers heading into the All-Star break and then took two of three from Cleveland coming out of it. So they’ve climbed back into the Wild Card race in the ultra-competitive NL. They sit with the eighth-best record in the NL, but that leaves them just one loss behind the Diamondbacks for the last wild card spot. So once again, the Cubs will be battling a team trying to jockey for position.
Matthew Boyd (6-1, 4.15) gets the opener of the series. He’s won his last four starts, allowing eight runs in 23.1 innings. At this point, that’s pretty much the best the Cubs have. Jared Jones (2-1, 4.05) makes his 10th start of the year for the Pirates. He’s coming off a win against Cleveland. He only threw five innings, but he struck out nine and allowed one earned run on three hits and a walk. He started four games against the Cubs back in 2024 and the Cubs hung a couple of losses on him. They posted 20 runs against him in 22.1 innings. This is a guy with only 31 starts. So, while those starts were a while ago, he doesn’t have a lot of body of work at the MLB level.
Start grinding. Start it with the win.
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