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When I first saw today's chart it made me think of the "Cliff Hangers" game from The Price is Right. The yodeling in the song used in that game always cracked me up.
Graphs for Game 153 (courtesy of Fangraphs):
Stats for Game 153:
Pitcher |
IP |
H |
HR |
ER |
BB |
SO |
pLI |
WPA |
T Wada |
5 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
1.12 |
.154 |
J Grimm |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0.61 |
.046 |
Z Rosscup |
0.1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0.75 |
.019 |
W Wright |
0.1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.56 |
.016 |
B Parker |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.11 |
-.015 |
B Schlitter |
0.2 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0.71 |
-.068 |
N Ramirez |
0.2 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1.88 |
-.708 |
Total |
9 |
13 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
8 |
1.01 |
-.556 |
Batter |
AB |
R |
H |
HR |
RBI |
BB |
SO |
pLI |
WPA |
L Valbuena |
5 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1.26 |
.105 |
J Baez |
4 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0.82 |
.099 |
J Soler |
4 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
1.4 |
.048 |
R Kalish |
4 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1.01 |
.037 |
C Coghlan |
5 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0.7 |
.021 |
J Lake |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0.21 |
.008 |
C Valaika |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.29 |
-.008 |
T Wada |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0.63 |
-.034 |
M Olt |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
1.6 |
-.055 |
J Baker |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0.58 |
-.061 |
L Watkins |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.91 |
-.103 |
Total |
36 |
4 |
11 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
11 |
0.96 |
.056 |
Writer's Note: The daily selections of the three Heroes and three Goats are based solely on the top three and bottom three WPA scores for the game. The selections are not based on my subjective opinion.
THE THREE HEROES:
- Superhero - Tsuyoshi Wada (.154). Goes out the Superhero in his final outing of the year, and possibly his final outing as a Cub.
- Hero - Luis Valbuena (.105). Drove in the game's first run with his first-inning single.
- Sidekick - Javier Baez (.099). I'll take 2-for-4 with two singles and a walk any time I can get it from him.
THE THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat - Neil Ramirez (-.708). There hasn't been a WPA implosion by a Cub reliever that's been all that close to this one this season; the next-closest came on June 17. And granted, had the next guy down on the podium made the play on the sharp grounder things would have been different. But you still have to get the next guys out.
- Goat - Logan Watkins (-.103). Just don't look next to you, man. Just keep your head down and pretend that nothing's going on.
- Kid - Brian Schlitter (-.068). If you didn't check out the link above, he was the previous owner of the biggest WPA implosion for a Cub reliever in 2014.
UPDATED RANKINGS THROUGH GAME 153 (Changes in Bold, Notations Below):
x - Player not on active roster.
y - Player not on 40-man roster.
z - Player no longer with Cubs.
Heroes |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Total |
Anthony Rizzo |
16 |
11 |
10 |
80 |
Starlin Castro |
14.5 |
10 |
9 |
72.5 |
Luis Valbuena |
13 |
12 |
8 |
71 |
Welington Castillo |
10 |
8.5 |
5.5 |
52.5 |
Chris Coghlan |
7 |
9 |
4 |
43 |
Jake Arrieta |
11 |
4 |
1 |
42 |
y-Justin Ruggiano |
6.5 |
9.5 |
3 |
41.5 |
Travis Wood |
6 |
6 |
1 |
31 |
z-Jason Hammel |
5 |
4 |
5 |
28 |
z-Nate Schierholtz |
4 |
6 |
3 |
27 |
Mike Olt |
4 |
3 |
8 |
26 |
y-Ryan Sweeney |
2 |
6 |
6.5 |
24.5 |
z-Jeff Samardzija |
6 |
2 |
2 |
24 |
Junior Lake |
4 |
3 |
4 |
22 |
z-Emilio Bonifacio |
1 |
9 |
1 |
22 |
Brian Schlitter |
1 |
4.5 |
7.5 |
19.5 |
Arismendy Alcantara |
3 |
4 |
2 |
19 |
Kyle Hendricks |
5 |
1.5 |
0.5 |
18.5 |
Jorge Soler |
5 |
1 |
1 |
18 |
Tsuyoshi Wada |
5 |
1 |
0 |
17 |
Pedro Strop |
1 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
z-Darwin Barney |
3.5 |
2.5 |
1 |
16.5 |
x-Edwin Jackson |
4 |
1 |
2 |
16 |
Hector Rondon |
0 |
1 |
14 |
16 |
Ryan Kalish |
4 |
1 |
1 |
15 |
Justin Grimm |
0 |
4 |
7 |
15 |
John Baker |
1 |
4 |
3 |
14 |
Wesley Wright |
0.5 |
4 |
3.5 |
13 |
Javier Baez |
0 |
5 |
3 |
13 |
Chris Valaika |
4 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
Carlos Villanueva |
0 |
3 |
5 |
11 |
z-James Russell |
0 |
2 |
6 |
10 |
Matt Szczur |
1 |
2 |
1 |
8 |
Neil Ramirez |
0 |
0.5 |
6.5 |
7.5 |
Zac Rosscup |
0 |
3 |
0.5 |
6.5 |
Felix Doubront |
2 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
Jacob Turner |
1 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
Kyuji Fujikawa |
0 |
1 |
1.5 |
3.5 |
x-Dallas Beeler |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
x-Chris Rusin |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Blake Parker |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
Logan Watkins |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
Dan Straily |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Eric Jokisch |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Goats |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Total |
Luis Valbuena |
8 |
10 |
13 |
57 |
z-Nate Schierholtz |
8 |
12 |
7 |
55 |
Welington Castillo |
4 |
15.5 |
9 |
52 |
Starlin Castro |
5 |
10.5 |
15 |
51 |
Travis Wood |
11 |
5 |
2 |
45 |
x-Edwin Jackson |
12 |
3 |
1 |
43 |
Junior Lake |
6 |
6.5 |
8.5 |
39.5 |
Chris Coghlan |
7 |
5 |
7 |
38 |
Arismendy Alcantara |
4 |
9.5 |
5.5 |
36.5 |
Anthony Rizzo |
2 |
11 |
8 |
36 |
Mike Olt |
6 |
4 |
6 |
32 |
Justin Grimm |
7 |
1.5 |
2.5 |
26.5 |
y-Justin Ruggiano |
2 |
7 |
6 |
26 |
z-Emilio Bonifacio |
1 |
9 |
4 |
25 |
Carlos Villanueva |
6 |
1 |
4 |
24 |
Javier Baez |
5 |
2.5 |
3.5 |
23.5 |
z-Jason Hammel |
7 |
1 |
0 |
23 |
Hector Rondon |
6 |
2 |
1 |
23 |
John Baker |
4 |
2 |
5 |
21 |
z-James Russell |
3 |
3 |
5 |
20 |
y-Ryan Sweeney |
3 |
3 |
3.5 |
18.5 |
Pedro Strop |
3 |
4 |
1 |
18 |
Wesley Wright |
4 |
1 |
3 |
17 |
z-Jeff Samardzija |
4 |
1 |
1 |
15 |
Jake Arrieta |
4 |
0 |
3 |
15 |
z-Darwin Barney |
0 |
6 |
3 |
15 |
Brian Schlitter |
2 |
3 |
2 |
14 |
Kyle Hendricks |
1 |
3 |
4 |
13 |
Neil Ramirez |
4 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
Chris Valaika |
1 |
3 |
1 |
10 |
Ryan Kalish |
1 |
2 |
2.5 |
9.5 |
Tsuyoshi Wada |
3 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
Jacob Turner |
3 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
z-Jose Veras |
2 |
1 |
1 |
9 |
Blake Parker |
1 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
y-Eli Whiteside |
1 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
Dan Straily |
1 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
x-Dallas Beeler |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
Matt Szczur |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
Logan Watkins |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
Jorge Soler |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
x-Chris Rusin |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Eric Jokisch |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Felix Doubront |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Overall |
Hero |
Goat |
+/- |
Anthony Rizzo |
80 |
36 |
44 |
Jake Arrieta |
42 |
15 |
27 |
Starlin Castro |
72.5 |
51 |
21.5 |
y-Justin Ruggiano |
41.5 |
26 |
15.5 |
Jorge Soler |
18 |
3 |
15 |
Luis Valbuena |
71 |
57 |
14 |
z-Jeff Samardzija |
24 |
15 |
9 |
Tsuyoshi Wada |
17 |
9 |
8 |
Zac Rosscup |
6.5 |
0 |
6.5 |
y-Ryan Sweeney |
24.5 |
18.5 |
6 |
Brian Schlitter |
19.5 |
14 |
5.5 |
Kyle Hendricks |
18.5 |
13 |
5.5 |
Ryan Kalish |
15 |
9.5 |
5.5 |
Chris Coghlan |
43 |
38 |
5 |
z-Jason Hammel |
28 |
23 |
5 |
Felix Doubront |
6 |
1 |
5 |
Matt Szczur |
8 |
4 |
4 |
Kyuji Fujikawa |
3.5 |
0 |
3.5 |
Chris Valaika |
12 |
10 |
2 |
z-Darwin Barney |
16.5 |
15 |
1.5 |
x-Chris Rusin |
3 |
2 |
1 |
Welington Castillo |
52.5 |
52 |
0.5 |
Eric Jokisch |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Pedro Strop |
17 |
18 |
-1 |
Logan Watkins |
3 |
4 |
-1 |
x-Dallas Beeler |
3 |
4 |
-1 |
z-Emilio Bonifacio |
22 |
25 |
-3 |
Wesley Wright |
13 |
17 |
-4 |
Jacob Turner |
5 |
9 |
-4 |
Blake Parker |
3 |
7 |
-4 |
Dan Straily |
1 |
5 |
-4 |
Neil Ramirez |
7.5 |
12 |
-4.5 |
Mike Olt |
26 |
32 |
-6 |
y-Eli Whiteside |
0 |
6 |
-6 |
Hector Rondon |
16 |
23 |
-7 |
John Baker |
14 |
21 |
-7 |
z-Jose Veras |
0 |
9 |
-9 |
z-James Russell |
10 |
20 |
-10 |
Javier Baez |
13 |
23.5 |
-10.5 |
Justin Grimm |
15 |
26.5 |
-11.5 |
Carlos Villanueva |
11 |
24 |
-13 |
Travis Wood |
31 |
45 |
-14 |
Junior Lake |
22 |
39.5 |
-17.5 |
Arismendy Alcantara |
19 |
36.5 |
-17.5 |
x-Edwin Jackson |
16 |
43 |
-27 |
z-Nate Schierholtz |
27 |
55 |
-28 |
Wada ends his season in second place among active starters on the plus/minus chart, and Valbuena creeps closer to Starlin Castro for second place on the overall Hero board.