2024 Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 19 (2024)

After a chaotic road trip, a relatively easy win was just what the doctor ordered to start this six game homestand. As is so often the case, the pendulum swings wildly. Despite two more games Wednesday and Friday where the starter failed to even start the sixth inning, the Cubs head into today’s doubleheader with a very well rested bullpen.

On Wednesday, the Cubs used three pitchers thanks to Hayden Wesneski’s heroic relief effort. On Thursday, the Cubs ended up getting rained out. Now here in Friday’s game, they used three pitchers again. The Cubs two top relievers now haven’t thrown since Tuesday. Literally, regardless how the two games shake out today, Craig Counsell is going to want to get them work to keep them locked in.

Despite not going six innings, Jameson Taillon’s start has to be viewed as a rousing success. In his first start of the year, it was anticipated that Jameson would only throw four innings. But he was so effective and efficient, he was able to complete five innings. It was definitely the kind of start that he can build on going forward. It was encouraging enough that I’m intrigued to see if the Cubs bring him back on normal rest to face the Astros later in the homestand (as opposed to a six-man rotation this first time through).

There is definitely a decision to be made and we can be sure it’s not going to be well received, because it isn’t going to involve Kyle Hendricks being skipped. The Hendricks situation is going to be the first real managerial challenge of the Craig Counsell era. The handling of a franchise legend as he struggles to find a way to help this team is a real challenge. I can’t imagine any scenario where the Chicago media doesn’t pounce at that story given that basically every fan is going to have an opinion on the idea.

Taillon was dealing to be sure. He was largely unhittable on this day. He allowed just one run on a fluke homer that Statcast tells us would have only been a homer in one park and was likely to be an out in most of the rest of them. The old cliché is that defense is a pitcher’s best friend. With all due respect, if a pitcher had to choose between sparkling defense and an offense that put seven runs on the board in the first three innings, he’s going to take the offense if he’s being honest.

The really fun part of today’s game is that Jameson had both. The defense turned in several excellent plays and once again, the offense could be described as relentless. In the early going of 2024, relentless is my word for 2024. In 2023, my mantra was for the Cubs to get greedy. It was fun for me as someone writing that I talked about the need for them to get greedy last year and then they did it. If they can continue to combine that relentless approach, they are going to have the chance to get very greedy.

The test of a manager comes during the adversity. As much as I was never enamored with David Ross, his teams did get and stay hot on many occasions. My problem was always that they would get cold and it would just linger. The real test is going to be when this team eventually struggles. Every team does. The question is does that end up being just a couple of losses or something that hangs around for a few weeks?

It’s possible to say that he helped them steal a couple of games on this past road trip. I’m not withholding some credit from him for those wins. The manager definitely almost always has a hand in it. But they also gave away a couple of games. A lot of fans dwell on the ones their team let get away. But it’s important to realize that as much as we’d like to dream on them winning one more in San Diego and one more in Arizona, there are at least three and maybe four teams already shaking their heads about another game they could have taken from the Cubs. I always had the impression that Craig Counsell stole more games than his teams gave away under his watch. I’m really looking forward to watching it up close.

In the early going, the biggest struggle Craig has had to deal with is injuries. Four significant Cubs players have already spent time on the injured list with the first of them returning today. Ian Happ left the game early Friday with a tender hamstring and the potential for a fifth player to miss real time in the first month of the season is very real. Clustering those injuries among starting pitching and outfielders is rough. The Cubs have some infield depth. Finding enough plate appearances for Nick Madrigal and Miles Mastrobuoni already has one of them back in Iowa.

While the Cubs starting rotation depth has actually held up quite well, with Ben Brown and Javier Assad both performing quite well, the bullpen definitely struggled from not having at least one of them down there. Patrick Wisdom started in the outfield today. I don’t think that’s a real viable option over any extended period of time. I’m definitely intrigued to see more of Alexander Canario. But I’d really like to see the other talented young outfielders playing in Iowa be given a proper amount of time to flourish before coming to Chicago.

Those are problems for the future, though. Let’s get to our breakdown of Friday’s convincing win. We begin with three stars of the game.

1. Jameson Taillon was the man of the day. He maybe tailed off just a little bit in that fifth inning of work but still only needed 18 batters to finish five innings. An incredibly efficient effort.
2. Four Cubs had two hits and any of them would be fine, but I’m going to go with Nico ho*rner in the top spot. He had two doubles (in the first two innings). He scored the first run and later drove in a run. He’s gotten red hot after a slow start.
3. Mike Tauchman noses out everyone else for me. He didn’t start this game, but had time to put up a single, a double and drive in a run.

Game 19, April 19: Cubs 8, Marlins 3 (12-7)

Fangraphs

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Jameson Taillon (.157). 5 IP, 18 batters, 3 H, R, 4 K (W 1-0)
• Hero: Nico ho*rner (.139). 2-5, 2-2B, RBI, R
• Sidekick: Dansby Swanson (.121). 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI, 2 R

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Christopher Morel (-.062). 0-3, BB, R, DP
• Goat: Ian Happ (-.048). 0-2, BB
• Kid: Alexander Canario (.000). 0-1

WPA Play of the Game: With two outs and a runner on third in the bottom of the first, the Cubs were up one. Dansby Swanson faced A.J. Puk and doubled, driving in a run. (.086)

*Marlins Play of the Game: With runners on first and second with no outs in the bottom of the first, the Cubs were up one. Christopher Morel grounded into a double play. (.086)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Game 18 winner: Hayden Wesneski received 95 percent of the votes to win this one easily.

Rizzo Award Cumulative Standings: (Top 3/Bottom 3)

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.

• Michael Busch +13
• Mark Leiter Jr. +9
• Seiya Suzuki +5.5
• Miles Mastrobuoni/Jordan Wicks -5
• Cody Bellinger -6
• Kyle Hendricks -12

Up Next: A day/night doubleheader with the Marlins. Javier Assad (2-0, 2.16, 16⅔ IP) faces 26-year-old lefty Jesús Lazardo (0-2, 7.65, 20 IP) in the first game. The former third round pick of the Nationals allowed five earned runs in five innings of work against the Braves in his last start. And that’s not even one of his two losses. The start before that had him allowing seven runs in a start in New York against the Yankees. He’s drawn some really tough early season opponents and Saturday should be no exception.

In game two, Cubs rookie sensation Shota Imanaga (2-0, 0.00, 15⅓ IP) looks to continue the fine start to his MLB career. Speaking of rookies, the Marlins are going to call up 24-year-old Roddery Muñoz to make his major league debut in the second game. Munoz is 0-3 with a 10.97 ERA over three appearances, two starts for the Marlins Triple-A team in Jacksonville. He frankly hasn’t experienced a whole lot of success in the minor leagues. It’s a tough time to be a Marlins fan.

I usually hope for a split in a doubleheader. But let’s get greedy and take both of them.