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It's the second of November. Three days before my father's birthday. And the Cubs will be playing Game 7 of the World Series.
The Cubs will be playing Game 7 of the World Series.
Holy (expletive deleted), the Cubs will be playing the seventh game of the World Series.
ONE. MORE. GAME. I honestly don't know how I'm going to make it through the day.
Graphs for World Series Game 6 (courtesy of Fangraphs):
Stats for World Series Game 6:
Pitcher |
IP |
H |
HR |
ER |
BB |
SO |
pLI |
WPA |
J Arrieta |
5.2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
9 |
0.43 |
.108 |
A Chapman |
1.1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0.29 |
.028 |
M Montgomery |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0.33 |
.011 |
P Strop |
0.2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0.04 |
.002 |
T Wood |
0.1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.02 |
.001 |
Total |
9 |
6 |
1 |
3 |
6 |
10 |
0.35 |
.150 |
Batter |
AB |
R |
H |
HR |
RBI |
BB |
SO |
pLI |
WPA |
A Russell |
5 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
0.67 |
.262 |
K Bryant |
5 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0.27 |
.100 |
B Zobrist |
4 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0.43 |
.047 |
A Rizzo |
5 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0.27 |
.025 |
K Schwarber |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0.25 |
.007 |
J Baez |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0.14 |
-.010 |
J Heyward |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.19 |
-.021 |
W Contreras |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0.28 |
-.026 |
D Fowler |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0.27 |
-.034 |
Total |
39 |
9 |
13 |
3 |
9 |
3 |
6 |
0.31 |
.350 |
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 Ramirez Catalyst of World Series Game 6: With two on and two out in the top of the first, Addison Russell hits a routine fly ball to right-center field, but a miscommunication between Tyler Naquin and Lonnie Chisenhall leads to the ball falling in between them for a two-run double, giving the Cubs an early 3-0 lead. WPA impact: +.166.
THE THREE HEROES:
- Superhero - Addison Russell (.262). Oh, and then there was also the pitch from Dan Otero that Russell absolutely destroyed for a grand slam to put the Cubs up by seven.
- Hero - Jake Arrieta (.108). Am I the only person that stopped breathing for the entirety of the fourth inning? I have to imagine that there was a giant wind gust that swept through Chicago from everyone simultaneously exhaling after Arrieta struck out Tyler Naquin with the bases loaded to end the frame.
- Sidekick - Kris Bryant (.100). Let's not forget the moonshot that Bryant hit to start the scoring. You think that he was just a bit happy to get moved down to the third spot in the order? The 4-for-5 night might provide a clue.
THE THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat - Dexter Fowler (-.034). The only plate appearance of Fowler's that really had any WPA impact on the game was his first one; his other four outs in his 0-for-5 night had a combined WPA result of -.012.
- Goat - Willson Contreras (-.026). The same was true for Contreras; he only ended up on the second spot because his flyout to end the first came with Russell on third base at the time. Otherwise, it would have been...
- Kid - Jason Heyward (-.021). ...who was definitely helped out by the fact that all four of his plate appearances came after the Cubs had already tacked three runs on the board. But he definitely gets a handful of style points for his diving catch on a Jose Ramirez liner in the fourth and his cannon to nab Roberto Perez at second in the ninth.
RANKINGS THROUGH WORLD SERIES GAME 6:
Heroes |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Total |
Anthony Rizzo |
2 |
2 |
0 |
10 |
Jon Lester |
2 |
1 |
1 |
9 |
Javier Baez |
1 |
2 |
2 |
9 |
Kris Bryant |
1 |
2 |
2 |
9 |
Jake Arrieta |
1 |
2 |
0 |
7 |
Willson Contreras |
1 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
Kyle Hendricks |
1 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
Ben Zobrist |
1 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
Addison Russell |
1 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
Aroldis Chapman |
1 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
Justin Grimm |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
Jason Heyward |
0 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
Travis Wood |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Miguel Montero |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Carl Edwards Jr. |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
John Lackey |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Mike Montgomery |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
Dexter Fowler |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
Pedro Strop |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Kyle Schwarber |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Goats |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Total |
Ben Zobrist |
1.5 |
3.5 |
1 |
12.5 |
Jason Heyward |
3 |
0 |
3 |
12 |
Dexter Fowler |
2 |
2 |
2 |
12 |
Addison Russell |
1 |
4 |
0 |
11 |
Anthony Rizzo |
1 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
Javier Baez |
2 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
John Lackey |
1.5 |
0.5 |
0 |
5.5 |
Willson Contreras |
0 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
Aroldis Chapman |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Pedro Strop |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Jake Arrieta |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Jorge Soler |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Albert Almora Jr. |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
David Ross |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Jon Lester |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Miguel Montero |
0 |
0 |
1.5 |
1.5 |
Kris Bryant |
0 |
0 |
1.5 |
1.5 |
Justin Grimm |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Overall |
Hero |
Goat |
+/- |
pWPA |
Kris Bryant |
9 |
1.5 |
7.5 |
0.715 |
Jon Lester |
9 |
2 |
7 |
0.983 |
Kyle Hendricks |
6 |
0 |
6 |
0.410 |
Jake Arrieta |
7 |
3 |
4 |
0.262 |
Anthony Rizzo |
10 |
7 |
3 |
0.119 |
Javier Baez |
9 |
6 |
3 |
0.480 |
Justin Grimm |
4 |
1 |
3 |
0.123 |
Travis Wood |
3 |
0 |
3 |
0.070 |
Aroldis Chapman |
5 |
3 |
2 |
0.265 |
Mike Montgomery |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0.130 |
Miguel Montero |
3 |
1.5 |
1.5 |
0.273 |
Willson Contreras |
6 |
5 |
1 |
0.207 |
Carl Edwards Jr. |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0.053 |
Kyle Schwarber |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0.119 |
Pedro Strop |
1 |
3 |
-2 |
-0.234 |
David Ross |
0 |
2 |
-2 |
-0.199 |
Albert Almora Jr. |
0 |
3 |
-3 |
-0.035 |
Jorge Soler |
0 |
3 |
-3 |
-0.075 |
John Lackey |
2 |
5.5 |
-3.5 |
-0.227 |
Addison Russell |
5 |
11 |
-6 |
-0.055 |
Ben Zobrist |
5 |
12.5 |
-7.5 |
-0.362 |
Jason Heyward |
4 |
12 |
-8 |
-0.307 |
Dexter Fowler |
2 |
12 |
-10 |
-0.210 |