Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 6

And thanks to a Cardinals' loss to the Brewers on Monday night, the Cubs are alone in first place for the first time since July 30, 2009. Hey, that's not even six years!

Graphs for Game 6 (courtesy of Fangraphs):

Stats for Game 6:

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 - Jorge Soler (.648). So, last year there was only one WPA performance above .550 by a Cubs hitter. And now six games into this season we've had two in two nights. As Peter Noone once sang: "Something tells me I'm into something good."
• Hero - Anthony Rizzo (.267). Even without the wild pitch by Manny Parra he still had the second spot on the podium with his two walks late in the game. No fruit basket for you, Manny.
• Sidekick (tie) - Hector Rondon and Pedro Strop (.123). Another interesting inning for Rondon, but he and Strop kept it scoreless for the final two innings.

THE THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat - Jon Lester (-.409). Well, at least he made some pickoff throws. Even if one of them channeled Matt Garza.
• Goat - Dexter Fowler (-.178). I'm beginning to think that Fowler and Rizzo have a bet going to see who can get the most podium appearances this season.
• Kid - Starlin Castro (-.092). The run-scoring single early got wiped out by the 0-for-4 that followed it, with the forceout in the 10th locking in the bottom stair for him.

RANKINGS THROUGH GAME 6:

Soler leapfrogs the pack to lead the plus/minus chart for the first time this season, while Lester searches for the ladder to climb his way out of the cellar.