If you're a regular follower of Heroes and Goats and if you saw Wednesday night's game, then you probably already guessed that (spoiler alert, just in case) there was a bump on the Hero podium as a result of the bases-loaded walk that Travis Wood drew in the 13th inning. Some fun facts from that bump:
- The .315 WPA from Wood's walk (.318 per Baseball Reference) would have topped the Hero list in Wednesday night's game. There have been a total of four times since 2014 when a pitcher led the Cubs in WPA for a game as a result of his hitting. The last occurrence was the Donn Roach game on June 27, 2015.
- Just how rare is it for a Cubs pitcher to end up with a WPA over .300 as a result of his hitting? It has occurred a total of 18 times in the past 78 years, which is currently as far back as records go on Baseball Reference. The last occurrence was almost 10 years ago when Carlos Zambrano pulled off the feat of June 27, 2006. It's also the first time in those 18 occurrences that a pitcher achieved the feat without recording an official at-bat in the game. Here's the complete list (as an image file because unfortunately Baseball Reference tables don't seem to play well with BCB):
Graphs for Game 38 (courtesy of Fangraphs):
Stats for Game 38:
Pitcher |
IP |
H |
HR |
ER |
BB |
SO |
pLI |
WPA |
P Strop |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
2.64 |
.276 |
T Wood |
1.1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
4.27 |
.236 |
C Richard |
0.1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7.77 |
.201 |
J Lackey |
6 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
1.06 |
.167 |
N Ramirez |
0.1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
6.01 |
.081 |
A Warren |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0.76 |
.043 |
J Grimm |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0.44 |
.031 |
H Rondon |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
2.18 |
-.040 |
Total |
13 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
8 |
14 |
2.13 |
.996 |
Batter |
AB |
R |
H |
HR |
RBI |
BB |
SO |
pLI |
WPA |
T Wood |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
6.87 |
.315 |
J Soler |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2.3 |
.170 |
B Zobrist |
5 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2.55 |
.168 |
D Fowler |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1.7 |
.020 |
T La Stella |
5 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2.54 |
-.014 |
M Montero |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
4.05 |
-.018 |
A Rizzo |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1.66 |
-.019 |
K Bryant |
5 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1.78 |
-.031 |
D Ross |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1.81 |
-.071 |
J Lackey |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1.94 |
-.098 |
T Cahill |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3.66 |
-.104 |
A Russell |
6 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2.51 |
-.116 |
T Federowicz |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4.96 |
-.138 |
J Baez |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3.47 |
-.140 |
J Heyward |
6 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2.34 |
-.421 |
Total |
44 |
2 |
10 |
0 |
2 |
8 |
9 |
2.44 |
-.496 |
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 - Pedro Strop (.276). Pitched a scoreless ninth and 10th and got out of a two-out jam courtesy of a backwards K with runners on the corners.
- Hero - Travis Wood (.236). Pulled an absolute Houdini act -- probably the best one this season -- by escaping a bases-loaded jam with nobody out in the 12th. His pitching alone would have topped the podium if not for the double that he gave up to Jonathan Villar to start the 13th before he left with one out.
- Sidekick - Clayton Richard (.201). So it is possible for Richard to face one batter and not end up on the Goat podium for it!
THE THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat - Jason Heyward (-.421). Ugh. Lots of missed chances, and was caught stealing in the 12th just to pile on some extra points. And in case you were wondering: Yes, that is the worst WPA this season by someone other than a pitcher and the worst by a non-pitcher since Addison Russell on September 20, 2015.
- Goat - Javier Baez (-.140). Had a chance with two on in the 10th but ended up grounding out to short.
- Kid - Tim Federowicz (-.138). Had an even bigger chance of his own with runners on the corners in the ninth and two out but struck out swinging.
RANKINGS THROUGH GAME 38: The top of the chart remains unchanged as most of the action takes place in the middle and Heyward slips back under the minus-20 barrier at the bottom.
Heroes |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Total |
Anthony Rizzo |
5 |
4.5 |
3.5 |
27.5 |
Addison Russell |
3 |
6 |
2 |
23 |
Jon Lester |
5 |
2 |
0 |
19 |
Ben Zobrist |
4 |
1 |
3.5 |
17.5 |
Jake Arrieta |
5 |
1 |
0 |
17 |
Dexter Fowler |
1 |
2 |
7 |
14 |
Jason Hammel |
4 |
0 |
1 |
13 |
Kris Bryant |
0.5 |
3.5 |
4 |
12.5 |
Miguel Montero |
2.5 |
1 |
0.5 |
10 |
Jorge Soler |
1 |
1 |
4 |
9 |
Jason Heyward |
0 |
4 |
0 |
8 |
Kyle Hendricks |
2 |
0 |
1 |
7 |
Hector Rondon |
1 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
Adam Warren |
0 |
2.5 |
1.5 |
6.5 |
Tommy La Stella |
0 |
2 |
2.5 |
6.5 |
John Lackey |
2 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
Pedro Strop |
1 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
Javier Baez |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
Justin Grimm |
0 |
0.5 |
1.5 |
2.5 |
Matt Szczur |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Ryan Kalish |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Tim Federowicz |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Travis Wood |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Trevor Cahill |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Clayton Richard |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
David Ross |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Neil Ramirez |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Goats |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Total |
Jason Heyward |
5 |
7 |
1 |
30 |
Kris Bryant |
3.5 |
5.5 |
1 |
22.5 |
Addison Russell |
5 |
2 |
3 |
22 |
Dexter Fowler |
5 |
2 |
3 |
22 |
Jorge Soler |
4 |
2 |
5 |
21 |
Anthony Rizzo |
2.5 |
3.5 |
2 |
16.5 |
Ben Zobrist |
1 |
3 |
4 |
13 |
Tommy La Stella |
2 |
0 |
3 |
9 |
David Ross |
1 |
2 |
1 |
8 |
Pedro Strop |
1 |
2 |
0 |
7 |
Javier Baez |
0 |
2 |
3 |
7 |
John Lackey |
2 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
Kyle Hendricks |
1 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
Trevor Cahill |
1 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
Miguel Montero |
0 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
Tim Federowicz |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
Travis Wood |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
Adam Warren |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Hector Rondon |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Justin Grimm |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
Matt Szczur |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
Spencer Patton |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Clayton Richard |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
Jason Hammel |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Jon Lester |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Kyle Schwarber |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Neil Ramirez |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Overall |
Hero |
Goat |
+/- |
Jon Lester |
19 |
1 |
18 |
Jake Arrieta |
17 |
0 |
17 |
Jason Hammel |
13 |
1 |
12 |
Anthony Rizzo |
27.5 |
16.5 |
11 |
Miguel Montero |
10 |
5 |
5 |
Ben Zobrist |
17.5 |
13 |
4.5 |
Hector Rondon |
7 |
3 |
4 |
Adam Warren |
6.5 |
3 |
3.5 |
Ryan Kalish |
2 |
0 |
2 |
Addison Russell |
23 |
22 |
1 |
Kyle Hendricks |
7 |
6 |
1 |
John Lackey |
6 |
6 |
0 |
Neil Ramirez |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Justin Grimm |
2.5 |
3 |
-0.5 |
Matt Szczur |
2 |
3 |
-1 |
Clayton Richard |
1 |
2 |
-1 |
Kyle Schwarber |
0 |
1 |
-1 |
Pedro Strop |
5 |
7 |
-2 |
Tim Federowicz |
2 |
4 |
-2 |
Travis Wood |
2 |
4 |
-2 |
Spencer Patton |
0 |
2 |
-2 |
Tommy La Stella |
6.5 |
9 |
-2.5 |
Javier Baez |
4 |
7 |
-3 |
Trevor Cahill |
2 |
5 |
-3 |
David Ross |
1 |
8 |
-7 |
Dexter Fowler |
14 |
22 |
-8 |
Kris Bryant |
12.5 |
22.5 |
-10 |
Jorge Soler |
9 |
21 |
-12 |
Jason Heyward |
8 |
30 |
-22 |