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Man, what a night that was. First off, I'd like to say that I had an absolute blast watching the game with Theo's Spare Soul at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was great to be able to watch a game in St. Louis with another fellow Cub fan and former Illinoisan. And as it turned out, there were a bunch of other Cub fans at B-Dubs as well, probably in the neighborhood of a dozen. Plenty of high-fives were exchanged after the game ended, even one with a reluctant Cardinals fan who was sitting in the bar along with his two Cub fan friends.
After going for two-plus innings on what felt like oxygen deprivation, I think I've finally started to breathe normally again now. And the ride's just getting started. As was posted on Twitter earlier Wednesday:
The baseball world deserves a Cubs vs Cardinals playoff series.
— Brad Robinson (@bradrobinson8) October 7, 2015
Truer words have never been spoken.
Graphs for the Wild Card Game (courtesy of Fangraphs):
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Stats for the Wild Card Game:
|
Pitcher |
IP |
H |
HR |
ER |
BB |
SO |
pLI |
WPA |
|
J Arrieta |
9 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
0.76 |
.322 |
|
Total |
9 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
0.76 |
.322 |
|
Batter |
AB |
R |
H |
HR |
RBI |
BB |
SO |
pLI |
WPA |
|
K Schwarber |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0.87 |
.249 |
|
D Fowler |
4 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0.7 |
.139 |
|
C Denorfia |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0.11 |
.004 |
|
A Jackson |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0.13 |
-.007 |
|
M Montero |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.24 |
-.012 |
|
A Rizzo |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0.34 |
-.025 |
|
A Russell |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0.24 |
-.025 |
|
J Arrieta |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0.38 |
-.026 |
|
T La Stella |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0.58 |
-.031 |
|
S Castro |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.32 |
-.032 |
|
K Bryant |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0.49 |
-.058 |
|
Total |
32 |
4 |
7 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
10 |
0.42 |
.178 |
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 (.322). The guy must have ice water flowing through his veins. Just absolutely rock solid even when he was giving up some harder contact.
- Hero - Kyle Schwarber (.249). That homer was absolutely tattooed.
- Sidekick - Dexter Fowler (.139). He became the first Cub to ever have three hits, three runs scored, a homer, and a stolen base in a playoff game. The only other player to come close -- he didn't have the stolen base -- was Phil Cavarretta in 1945.
THE THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat - Kris Bryant (-.058). May not have done it with the bat, but man did he come up huge with the glove at third.
- Goat - Starlin Castro (-.032). Almost had a hit at the end, but lined it right at Josh Harrison.
- Kid - Tommy La Stella (-.031). Nothing too eventful in his two at-bats.