Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 14

Today's chart is a bit nervewracking, but every once in a while you need one of those just to make you feel a bit more alive again.

Graphs for Game 14 (courtesy of Fangraphs):

Stats for Game 14:

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: The run of consecutive pitcher bumps climbs to six as the .204 hitting of Jason Hammel is moved out.  That makes three bumps in the last six games from the Hero podium and three from the Goats.  On top of that, two of the three Hero bumps have been for Hammel. Who would have thought?

• Superhero - Jason Hammel (.236).  It looks like a normal quality start on paper, but there were two big jams avoided with a runner on third and less than two out.
• Hero - Pedro Strop (.232). Came into the eighth under slight duress and got two big strikeouts and a nice play from Kris Bryant to keep the score unchanged.
• Sidekick - Hector Rondon (.184). Also made things a little interesting in the ninth but sealed the deal with a swinging strikeout by Jedd Gyorko.

THE THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat - Addison Russell (-.179).  This sight is getting a bit familiar; it's his sixth Goat podium of the season in 14 games and his fourth time at the top.
• Goat - Jason Heyward (-.165).  He's being mocked pretty hard by the BABIP gods right now, but he's getting back at them with his continued string of great defensive plays.
• Kid - Travis Wood (-.099).  Only faced one batter and had a comebacker almost take his head off.

RANKINGS THROUGH GAME 14: Hammel marches back to the top of the pack as the starting rotation continues to pile up the points on the plus/minus chart.