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Fun Fact: After Wednesday night's start, Jake Arrieta has made 25 starts this season for the Cubs and has a WHIP of 0.989. Just how rare is is it for a Cub starter to make at least 25 starts and keep his WHIP under 1.00? Since the deadball era, it's only happened two other times, and only one other time in which every appearance by the pitcher was a start and not a relief appearance.
Here's the complete list of Cub starters who have managed the feat (minimum 25 starts, WHIP of 1.00 or less):
| Player | GS | Year | Tm | Lg | G | CG | SHO | W | L | IP | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orval Overall | 0.996 | 32 | 1909 | CHC | NL | 38 | 23 | 9 | 20 | 11 | 285.0 | 1.42 | 1.75 | 179 |
| Bill Hands | 0.994 | 34 | 1968 | CHC | NL | 38 | 11 | 4 | 16 | 10 | 258.2 | 2.89 | 3.03 | 110 |
| Jake Arrieta | 0.989 | 25 | 2014 | CHC | NL | 25 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 156.2 | 2.53 | 2.25 | 151 |
| Dennis Eckersley | 0.969 | 25 | 1985 | CHC | NL | 25 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 7 | 169.1 | 3.08 | 2.84 | 129 |
| Ed Reulbach | 0.963 | 29 | 1905 | CHC | NL | 34 | 28 | 5 | 18 | 14 | 291.2 | 1.42 | 2.46 | 209 |
| Jack Taylor | 0.953 | 34 | 1902 | CHC | NL | 37 | 34 | 8 | 23 | 11 | 333.2 | 1.29 | 2.73 | 206 |
| Mordecai Brown | 0.944 | 27 | 1907 | CHC | NL | 34 | 20 | 6 | 20 | 6 | 233.0 | 1.39 | 1.97 | 179 |
| Jack Pfiester | 0.941 | 29 | 1906 | CHC | NL | 31 | 20 | 4 | 20 | 8 | 250.2 | 1.51 | 2.21 | 174 |
| Claude Hendrix | 0.936 | 37 | 1914 | CHI | FL | 49 | 34 | 6 | 29 | 10 | 362.0 | 1.69 | 2.29 | 173 |
| Mordecai Brown | 0.934 | 32 | 1906 | CHC | NL | 36 | 27 | 9 | 26 | 6 | 277.1 | 1.04 | 2.08 | 253 |
| Pete Alexander | 0.928 | 27 | 1919 | CHC | NL | 30 | 20 | 9 | 16 | 11 | 235.0 | 1.72 | 2.11 | 166 |
| Mordecai Brown | 0.873 | 34 | 1909 | CHC | NL | 50 | 32 | 8 | 27 | 9 | 342.2 | 1.31 | 1.78 | 193 |
| Mordecai Brown | 0.842 | 31 | 1908 | CHC | NL | 44 | 27 | 9 | 29 | 9 | 312.1 | 1.47 | 1.87 | 160 |
Graphs for Game 159 (courtesy of Fangraphs):
Stats for Game 159:
|
Pitcher |
IP |
H |
HR |
ER |
BB |
SO |
pLI |
WPA |
|
J Arrieta |
7 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
10 |
1.16 |
.337 |
|
P Strop |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1.69 |
.118 |
|
H Rondon |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1.36 |
.071 |
|
Total |
9 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
12 |
1.25 |
.526 |
|
Batter |
AB |
R |
H |
HR |
RBI |
BB |
SO |
pLI |
WPA |
|
J Arrieta |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1.23 |
.224 |
|
C Valaika |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0.78 |
.075 |
|
L Valbuena |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1.1 |
.059 |
|
R Kalish |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.28 |
.015 |
|
C Coghlan |
4 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.85 |
.004 |
|
A Rizzo |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0.74 |
-.013 |
|
L Watkins |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0.85 |
-.016 |
|
J Soler |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0.88 |
-.019 |
|
A Alcantara |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.54 |
-.028 |
|
J Lake |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1.01 |
-.080 |
|
J Baez |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0.99 |
-.094 |
|
W Castillo |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1.38 |
-.152 |
|
Total |
31 |
3 |
7 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
9 |
0.94 |
-.026 |
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 - Jake Arrieta (.337). Another fun fact: Of his 25 starts this year, he allowed two runs or fewer in 19 of them.
- Hero - Jake Arrieta, the hitter (.224). And then there was his first career triple.
- Sidekick - Pedro Strop (.118). Has allowed one earned run in his last 18 appearances, and that was on August 31.
THE THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat - Welington Castillo (-.152). Whatever he does, he just can't seem to avoid the zero mark on the plus/minus chart.
- Goat - Javier Baez (-.094). I'm just writing this season off as an experiment for him. That's a different way of saying I'm not too concerned. Yet.
- Kid - Junior Lake (-.080). The Goat podium tonight combined: 11 at-bats, seven strikeouts. Yuck.
UPDATED RANKINGS THROUGH GAME 159 (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 |
17 |
11 |
10 |
83 |
|
Luis Valbuena |
13 |
13 |
8 |
73 |
|
Starlin Castro |
14.5 |
10 |
9 |
72.5 |
|
Welington Castillo |
11 |
8.5 |
5.5 |
55.5 |
|
Chris Coghlan |
9 |
9 |
4 |
49 |
|
Jake Arrieta |
12 |
5 |
1 |
47 |
|
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 |
9 |
27 |
|
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 |
|
Arismendy Alcantara |
3 |
5 |
2 |
21 |
|
Jorge Soler |
5 |
1.5 |
1.5 |
19.5 |
|
Brian Schlitter |
1 |
4.5 |
7.5 |
19.5 |
|
Hector Rondon |
0 |
2 |
15 |
19 |
|
Kyle Hendricks |
5 |
1.5 |
0.5 |
18.5 |
|
Pedro Strop |
1 |
3 |
9 |
18 |
|
Tsuyoshi Wada |
5 |
1 |
0 |
17 |
|
z-Darwin Barney |
3.5 |
2.5 |
1 |
16.5 |
|
Edwin Jackson |
4 |
1 |
2 |
16 |
|
Chris Valaika |
5 |
0 |
0 |
15 |
|
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 |
|
Carlos Villanueva |
0 |
3 |
5 |
11 |
|
z-James Russell |
0 |
2 |
6 |
10 |
|
Matt Szczur |
1 |
2.5 |
1.5 |
9.5 |
|
Zac Rosscup |
0 |
3 |
1.5 |
7.5 |
|
Neil Ramirez |
0 |
0.5 |
6.5 |
7.5 |
|
Felix Doubront |
2 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
|
Jacob Turner |
1 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
|
Blake Parker |
0 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
|
Kyuji Fujikawa |
0 |
1 |
1.5 |
3.5 |
|
x-Dallas Beeler |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
|
x-Chris Rusin |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
|
Logan Watkins |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
|
Dan Straily |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Eric Jokisch |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Rafael Lopez |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Goats |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Total |
|
Luis Valbuena |
8 |
10 |
13 |
57 |
|
z-Nate Schierholtz |
8 |
12 |
7 |
55 |
|
Welington Castillo |
5 |
15.5 |
9 |
55 |
|
Starlin Castro |
5 |
10.5 |
15 |
51 |
|
Travis Wood |
12 |
5 |
2 |
48 |
|
Edwin Jackson |
13 |
3 |
1 |
46 |
|
Junior Lake |
6 |
6.5 |
9.5 |
40.5 |
|
Arismendy Alcantara |
5 |
9.5 |
5.5 |
39.5 |
|
Chris Coghlan |
7 |
5 |
8 |
39 |
|
Anthony Rizzo |
2 |
11 |
8 |
36 |
|
Mike Olt |
6 |
4 |
6 |
32 |
|
Javier Baez |
5 |
4.5 |
5.5 |
29.5 |
|
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 |
|
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 |
|
Jacob Turner |
4 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
|
Chris Valaika |
1 |
4 |
1 |
12 |
|
Ryan Kalish |
1 |
2 |
2.5 |
9.5 |
|
Tsuyoshi Wada |
3 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
|
z-Jose Veras |
2 |
1 |
1 |
9 |
|
Blake Parker |
1 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
|
y-Eli Whiteside |
1 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
|
Matt Szczur |
0 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
|
Jorge Soler |
0 |
1 |
4 |
6 |
|
Dan Straily |
1 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
|
x-Dallas Beeler |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
|
Felix Doubront |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
|
Logan Watkins |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
|
Eric Jokisch |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
x-Chris Rusin |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
|
Zac Rosscup |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Overall |
Hero |
Goat |
+/- |
|
Anthony Rizzo |
83 |
36 |
47 |
|
Jake Arrieta |
47 |
15 |
32 |
|
Starlin Castro |
72.5 |
51 |
21.5 |
|
Luis Valbuena |
73 |
57 |
16 |
|
y-Justin Ruggiano |
41.5 |
26 |
15.5 |
|
Jorge Soler |
19.5 |
6 |
13.5 |
|
Chris Coghlan |
49 |
39 |
10 |
|
z-Jeff Samardzija |
24 |
15 |
9 |
|
Tsuyoshi Wada |
17 |
9 |
8 |
|
Zac Rosscup |
7.5 |
1 |
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 |
|
z-Jason Hammel |
28 |
23 |
5 |
|
Matt Szczur |
9.5 |
6 |
3.5 |
|
Kyuji Fujikawa |
3.5 |
0 |
3.5 |
|
Chris Valaika |
15 |
12 |
3 |
|
Felix Doubront |
6 |
4 |
2 |
|
z-Darwin Barney |
16.5 |
15 |
1.5 |
|
x-Chris Rusin |
3 |
2 |
1 |
|
Rafael Lopez |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
Welington Castillo |
55.5 |
55 |
0.5 |
|
Pedro Strop |
18 |
18 |
0 |
|
Logan Watkins |
3 |
4 |
-1 |
|
x-Dallas Beeler |
3 |
4 |
-1 |
|
Blake Parker |
5 |
7 |
-2 |
|
Eric Jokisch |
1 |
3 |
-2 |
|
z-Emilio Bonifacio |
22 |
25 |
-3 |
|
Hector Rondon |
19 |
23 |
-4 |
|
Wesley Wright |
13 |
17 |
-4 |
|
Dan Straily |
1 |
5 |
-4 |
|
Neil Ramirez |
7.5 |
12 |
-4.5 |
|
Mike Olt |
27 |
32 |
-5 |
|
y-Eli Whiteside |
0 |
6 |
-6 |
|
John Baker |
14 |
21 |
-7 |
|
Jacob Turner |
5 |
12 |
-7 |
|
z-Jose Veras |
0 |
9 |
-9 |
|
z-James Russell |
10 |
20 |
-10 |
|
Justin Grimm |
15 |
26.5 |
-11.5 |
|
Carlos Villanueva |
11 |
24 |
-13 |
|
Javier Baez |
13 |
29.5 |
-16.5 |
|
Travis Wood |
31 |
48 |
-17 |
|
Junior Lake |
22 |
40.5 |
-18.5 |
|
Arismendy Alcantara |
21 |
39.5 |
-18.5 |
|
z-Nate Schierholtz |
27 |
55 |
-28 |
|
Edwin Jackson |
16 |
46 |
-30 |
Arrieta straddles the first two steps of the Hero podium and breaks past the plus-30 mark on the plus/minus chart in the process.