2021 Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 120

The losses, they keep coming, rolling in as if they were on an assembly line. Even against another team that’s had a rough year like the Marlins, they couldn’t manage even a single win in the series. You see a lot of people saying that it’s a rough time to be a Cubs fan. I bet it’s an even rougher time to be a Cubs player. Granted, you are making a pretty good salary, but showing up at the park and knowing that you are overmatched and likely to lose just about every day, that can’t be fun at all.

Sure, for guys like Andrew Romine and Robinson Chirinos, they are getting more of an opportunity to play than they would pretty much anywhere else. But it still has to be tough, the constant losses. At least on Saturday night the game was competitive. But on Sunday, the Cubs didn’t really mount any serious offensive at winning the game. The pitching, it wasn’t bad on Sunday. The offense was completely ineffective, though.

There are now only four teams with more losses than the Cubs. There are several right around the number of losses the Cubs have, and the Cubs have a better winning percentage than a couple of those. But it is looking more and more apparent that they have a reasonable shot at the fifth overall pick in the 2022 draft.

It certainly leads to a lot of whiplash for a team that got as high as 11 games over .500. They are now 16 games below the break even mark. A 27-game swing within the same season is a pretty unusual accomplishment (for a team that isn’t 25 or more games under .500 anyway). Next up for the Cubs are three games in Cincinnati. The Reds are trying to cling to hope for catching one of the playoff spots, so every game is precious to them.

There’s just not a lot to be excited about right now. Let’s go to the numbers. As you’ll recall, the Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA (Win Probability Added) and are not in any way subjective. Many days WPA will not tell the story of what happened, but often it can give at least a glimpse to who rose to the occasion in a high-leverage moment or who didn’t get the job done in that moment. And now, let’s get to the results.

Game 120, August 15: Marlins 4, Cubs 1 (52-68)

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Robinson Chirinos (.286). 2-2, BB, HBP, 2B
• Hero: Adam Morgan (.061). ⅓ IP (1 batter faced), K
• Sidekick: Patrick Wisdom (.052). 1-2, K

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Rafael Ortega (-.279). 0-5, K
• Goat: Jake Jewell (-.159). ⅓ IP (2 batters faced), H, R
• Sidekick: Andrew Romine (-.127). 0-3, BB, 2K

WPA Play of the Game: Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered leading off the sixth inning against Alec Mills to break up a tie game. (.179)

*Cubs Play of the Game: Frank Schwindel homered off of Elieser Hernandez in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game 1-1. (.174)

Rizzo Award Cumulative Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)

• Kris Bryant +26
• Craig Kimbrel +20
• Rafael Ortega +19 (-3)
• Patrick Wisdom +15 (+1)
• *Nico Hoerner +12
• *PJ Higgins -9.5
• Zach Davies -11
• Rex Brothers -11.5
• Jake Arrieta -19
• Ian Happ -23

Up Next: The Cubs travel to Cincinnati for three games with the Reds. After this series, they finally receive a day off. They were last off on August 2. Justin Steele (2-1, 2.95) will make his second major league start. He’ll be opposed by Wade Miley (9-4, 3.00).