{"id":779407,"date":"2026-07-04T22:36:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T22:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/779407\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T22:36:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T22:36:24","slug":"2026-cubs-heroes-and-goats-carson-kelly-is-the-superhero-vs-cardinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/779407\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Cubs Heroes and Goats: Carson Kelly is the Superhero vs Cardinals."},"content":{"rendered":"

After a game like this, I think it\u2019s important to start with the big picture. There are only four teams with more wins than the Cubs. The Cubs are on pace for 90 wins. Deep breath and flush.<\/p>\n

This loss doesn\u2019t count extra and neither does Wednesday\u2019s blowout win. Just two random, crazy games in a season full of crazy outcomes. First team in history to win by 15+ and then lose by 15+. Wacky.<\/p>\n

Suffice is to say that the Cub defense isn\u2019t a magic wand for David Peterson. Unsurprising for a guy who became available on one for one swap for a prospect that wasn\u2019t creating a lot of buzz. I don\u2019t think this means that Peterson can\u2019t help this Cub team, particularly while so much of its regularly scheduled pitching staff is inhabiting the injured list. If you thought he was some panacea, then today was sobering. If you thought he was another guy who can pitch an occasional really good game and might get some boost from a strong defense, then throw this game out. If you aren\u2019t a really elite pitcher, odds are you aren\u2019t getting away with your clunkers.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, the Cubs are a different team when they jump ahead early. We\u2019re seeing a lot of that in Cub games in general. There is a lot of benefit to getting ahead early. That is the fun thing, even with the changes of the modern game. There is still an enormous benefit to having the better starting pitcher. There are more dynamics to the modern game the way it is played. A superb bullpen can steal a close game. A lousy bullpen can undo all of the hard work your starter did. To be fair, those things were always true, but they are amplified in the modern game because of just how many innings bullpens cover now.<\/p>\n

All of the change in the game, and a three-run homer in the second, is still a sizable problem. Six runs over three is nearly insurmountable and the game was over after four. After the Cubs batted in the sixth, no play had any WPA. After the bottom of the fourth, no play was worth more than .001. Masyn Winn\u2019s homer to make it 11-0 was that last play worth any real value at .010. And even that is very little value.<\/p>\n

So basically, nothing to see here. Move along.<\/p>\n

Pedro Ramirez came off the bench and had a triple and scored the only run.Alex Bregman had two hits and drove in that only run. One of the hits was a double.Pete Crow-Armstrong had a double before leaving this one early.<\/p>\n

Game 88, July 3: Cardinals 17, Cubs 1 (49-39)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Baseball Savant<\/p>\n

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.<\/p>\n

Superhero: Carson Kelly (.011). 1-4Hero: Seiya Suzuki (.006). 0-3, BBSidekick: Pete Crow-Armstrong (.004). 1-3, 2BBilly Goat: David Peterson (-.369). 3.2 IP, 23 BF, 9 H, 3 BB, 10 ER, 3 K (L 1-1)Goat: Ian Happ (-.043). 0-3Kid: Alex Bregman(-.027). 2-4, 2B, RBI<\/p>\n

WPA Notes: Ramirez does finish fourth, but again there was basically no leverage by the time he gets in there. WPA registered 87 plays and 24 of them had a WPA score of .000.<\/p>\n

WPA Play of the Game: Nathan Church\u2019s three-run homer with two outs in the second. (.263)<\/p>\n

Cubs Play of the Game: David Peterson struck out Jordan Walker with a runner on third and one out, the game scoreless in the first. (.057)<\/p>\n

\"ThomasSmith\"<\/a>\"Bleed<\/p>\n

Game 87 Winner: Dansby Swanson received 168 out of 228 votes.<\/p>\n

Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5\/Bottom 5)<\/p>\n

The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.<\/p>\n

Pete Crow-Armstrong +18Carson Kelly +14.5Ben Brown +13.5Trent Thornton +12.5Michael Busch +12Dansby Swanson -9Edward Cabrera\/Seiya Suzuki -9.5Phil Maton -10Caleb Thielbar -13<\/p>\n

Up Next: Game two of the three-game weekend set. Sh\u014dta Imanaga (5-6, 4.30) starts for the Cubs. He\u2019s just 1-2 with a 5.67 over his last seven starts (39.2 IP). He was pretty good last time though, against the Padres to start this homestand. Kyle Leahy (6-4, 4.09) starts for the cardinals. He\u2019s 1-1 with a 4.29 over his last seven (35.2). He was also good in his last one, a start against the Marlins in St. Louis. Leahy hasn\u2019t started on the road since June 12 when he allowed four runs over five innings in Minnesota. He held the Cubs to one run over 4.1 innings back on May 30.<\/p>\n

Win a game, keep some positive momentum going. Blah, blah, blah. Momentum. Starting pitching. You go we go Sh\u014dta, ok? Doesn\u2019t have the same ring, but still true.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a game like this, I think it\u2019s important to start with the big picture. There are only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,348796,591,85],"class_list":["post-779407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-chicago-cubs-scores","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}