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So that's it. Another season in the books. The Cubs exceeded my pre-season expectations by a decent margin, as I had them pegged at 95-plus losses from the outset. I'm very glad that they proved me wrong, and I hope that in 2015 they'll find a way to get back to at least .500, something that they haven't done for an extended period of time for the past five years.
I'd like to thank everyone who came by to read this piece every day or on a regular basis. I hope that you found it to be a fun way to look at the season from a slightly different angle. And rest assured, this series will be back again in 2015.
Enjoy the offseason. It's only 189 days until Opening Day.
Graphs for Game 162 (courtesy of Fangraphs):
Stats for Game 162:
|
Pitcher |
IP |
H |
HR |
ER |
BB |
SO |
pLI |
WPA |
|
J Grimm |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2.11 |
.131 |
|
P Strop |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1.22 |
.085 |
|
N Ramirez |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1.54 |
.079 |
|
H Rondon |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0.51 |
.039 |
|
J Turner |
5 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
1.28 |
-.033 |
|
Total |
9 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
1.29 |
.301 |
|
Batter |
AB |
R |
H |
HR |
RBI |
BB |
SO |
pLI |
WPA |
|
A Rizzo |
4 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1.16 |
.324 |
|
A Alcantara |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
1.22 |
.109 |
|
C Coghlan |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0.76 |
.040 |
|
J Soler |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1.28 |
.003 |
|
L Watkins |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.49 |
.002 |
|
J Lake |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.58 |
-.015 |
|
J Turner |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0.89 |
-.045 |
|
J Baker |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0.67 |
-.046 |
|
C Valaika |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.71 |
-.051 |
|
J Baez |
5 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0.54 |
-.059 |
|
L Valbuena |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1.12 |
-.063 |
|
Total |
35 |
5 |
7 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
12 |
0.9 |
.199 |
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 - Anthony Rizzo (.324). Your mileage could somehow vary, but he gets my team MVP for 2014 hands-down.
- Hero - Justin Grimm (.131). Pulled pretty much the same act as Brian Schlitter on Saturday.
- Sidekick - Arismendy Alcantara (.109). Ended a rough September on a positive note.
THE THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat - Luis Valbuena (-.063). It'll be interesting to see just what his role with the team ends up being next season.
- Goat - Javier Baez (-.059). And now that the 2014 big-league experiment is over for him, it's time to get ready for the finished product in 2015.
- Kid - Chris Valaika (-.051). Whether or not he ends up with the Cubs again is next year is unknown, and I think unlikely, but he did have a decent .276 average and .713 OPS in September.
FINAL RANKINGS FOR THE 2014 SEASON (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 |
19 |
11 |
10 |
89 |
|
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 |
10 |
4 |
51 |
|
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 |
|
Arismendy Alcantara |
3 |
5 |
3 |
22 |
|
z-Emilio Bonifacio |
1 |
9 |
1 |
22 |
|
Brian Schlitter |
1 |
5.5 |
7.5 |
21.5 |
|
Hector Rondon |
0 |
2 |
16 |
20 |
|
Jorge Soler |
5 |
1.5 |
1.5 |
19.5 |
|
Kyle Hendricks |
5 |
1.5 |
0.5 |
18.5 |
|
Pedro Strop |
1 |
3 |
9 |
18 |
|
Tsuyoshi Wada |
5 |
1 |
0 |
17 |
|
Edwin Jackson |
4 |
1 |
3 |
17 |
|
Justin Grimm |
0 |
5 |
7 |
17 |
|
z-Darwin Barney |
3.5 |
2.5 |
1 |
16.5 |
|
Javier Baez |
1 |
5 |
3 |
16 |
|
Chris Valaika |
5 |
0 |
0 |
15 |
|
Ryan Kalish |
4 |
1 |
1 |
15 |
|
John Baker |
1 |
4 |
3 |
14 |
|
Wesley Wright |
0.5 |
4 |
3.5 |
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 |
|
z-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 |
9 |
11 |
13 |
62 |
|
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 |
|
Arismendy Alcantara |
6 |
9.5 |
5.5 |
42.5 |
|
Junior Lake |
6 |
6.5 |
9.5 |
40.5 |
|
Chris Coghlan |
7 |
5 |
8 |
39 |
|
Anthony Rizzo |
2 |
11 |
8 |
36 |
|
Javier Baez |
5 |
5.5 |
6.5 |
32.5 |
|
Mike Olt |
6 |
4 |
6 |
32 |
|
Justin Grimm |
7 |
1.5 |
3 |
27 |
|
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 |
|
Chris Valaika |
1 |
4 |
2 |
13 |
|
Kyle Hendricks |
1 |
3 |
4 |
13 |
|
Neil Ramirez |
4 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
|
Jacob Turner |
4 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
|
Ryan Kalish |
1 |
2 |
2.5 |
9.5 |
|
Tsuyoshi Wada |
3 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
|
z-Jose Veras |
2 |
1 |
1 |
9 |
|
Jorge Soler |
1 |
1 |
4 |
9 |
|
Matt Szczur |
0 |
3 |
2 |
8 |
|
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 |
|
Felix Doubront |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
|
Logan Watkins |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
|
Eric Jokisch |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
z-Chris Rusin |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
|
Zac Rosscup |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Rafael Lopez |
0 |
0 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
|
Overall |
Hero |
Goat |
+/- |
|
Anthony Rizzo |
89 |
36 |
53 |
|
Jake Arrieta |
47 |
15 |
32 |
|
Starlin Castro |
72.5 |
51 |
21.5 |
|
y-Justin Ruggiano |
41.5 |
26 |
15.5 |
|
Chris Coghlan |
51 |
39 |
12 |
|
Luis Valbuena |
73 |
62 |
11 |
|
Jorge Soler |
19.5 |
9 |
10.5 |
|
z-Jeff Samardzija |
24 |
15 |
9 |
|
Tsuyoshi Wada |
17 |
9 |
8 |
|
Brian Schlitter |
21.5 |
14 |
7.5 |
|
Zac Rosscup |
7.5 |
1 |
6.5 |
|
y-Ryan Sweeney |
24.5 |
18.5 |
6 |
|
Kyle Hendricks |
18.5 |
13 |
5.5 |
|
Ryan Kalish |
15 |
9.5 |
5.5 |
|
z-Jason Hammel |
28 |
23 |
5 |
|
Kyuji Fujikawa |
3.5 |
0 |
3.5 |
|
Chris Valaika |
15 |
13 |
2 |
|
Felix Doubront |
6 |
4 |
2 |
|
z-Darwin Barney |
16.5 |
15 |
1.5 |
|
Matt Szczur |
9.5 |
8 |
1.5 |
|
z-Chris Rusin |
3 |
2 |
1 |
|
Welington Castillo |
55.5 |
55 |
0.5 |
|
Rafael Lopez |
1 |
0.5 |
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 |
20 |
23 |
-3 |
|
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 |
|
Justin Grimm |
17 |
27 |
-10 |
|
z-James Russell |
10 |
20 |
-10 |
|
Carlos Villanueva |
11 |
24 |
-13 |
|
Javier Baez |
16 |
32.5 |
-16.5 |
|
Travis Wood |
31 |
48 |
-17 |
|
Junior Lake |
22 |
40.5 |
-18.5 |
|
Arismendy Alcantara |
22 |
42.5 |
-20.5 |
|
z-Nate Schierholtz |
27 |
55 |
-28 |
|
Edwin Jackson |
17 |
46 |
-29 |