The Cubs complete the sweep of the Orioles with an 8-0 win.
When you watch and follow baseball for decades, you think you start to understand some things. And then from time to time, baseball throws you for a mind bending loop. By itself, I’m not actually stunned about the Cubs sweeping the Orioles. Over the course of years, you’ll see the worst teams beat the best teams plenty. As frustrating as they are, this Cubs team is not one of the worst. So it’s not an out of this world outcome.
If this series had looked 3-2, 5-4, 6-2 I probably wouldn’t even blink. The Cubs’ three best starters threw in this series. If they clicked, it was certainly going to be possible to beat them three straight days. Improbable, but possible.
9-2, 4-0, 8-0? A potent Orioles offense held to just two runs over a three game set. Without going and looking for the exact number, I’m going to guess they’ve scored at least two runs in 80 percent or more of their games. I can say that with confidence because even the worst teams score two runs more often than not. An inconsistent offense scored 21 runs over three days.
It’s a hard thing to quantify, but I’d have to imagine the Cubs now own one of the most impressive series wins of the year. Sweeping that team in convincing fashion is no small feat. No one seeks out pyrrhic victories. But at very minimum, this is that. It’s often thrown around in sports that a given team won its Super Bowl or World Series. This is that type of series.
You certainly don’t want this to be that. It will suck if this is the bright shining moment for this team. You’d like to hope this is a beginning and not an end. And in fairness to this team, it had a very strong April. The last time this team won four straight games was April 23-26. At the end of that stretch, they were 17-9 and one of the better teams in the league. They even briefly held the NL Central lead. They had also previously won five straight. That’s the next milestone in front of this team.
As has been the case in this most recent run, all of the parts of the team have contributed. The offense, the starting pitching and the relief pitching are all working. Justin Steele continued his recent run of excellence. Last nine starts: 1.48 ERA, 61 innings, 58 strikeouts, 12 walks, 2 homers. Opponent batting average .180. Opponent OPS .477. Stretching back to 2022, over 54 starts he has thrown 314 innings with a 2.69 ERA and 322 strikeouts. Last night it was seven scoreless with only three hits, no walks allowed.
Steele locked things down on the pitching side. That’s the first star of this game. On the other side, Seiya Suzuki had two doubles and a triple. He drove in three and scored one. That’s a massive game and he gets my second spot.
Michael Busch continues to be a steady producer on this team. Two doubles and a walk. Three runs scored and two runs driven in. Michael is drifting up into the most productive hitters in baseball and I don’t think even a lot of Cubs fans have completely recognized it. I literally talked to a Cubs fan friend, a season-ticket holder, less than two weeks ago and listened to him saying the Busch was one of the guys dragging this team down and needing to go.
Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner, and Miles Mastrobuoni all would have been reasonable choices here. This team is as close to firing on all cylinders as I’ve seen it this year. Even when the team was winning early, it was a lot of close games and it was largely winning in spite of a leaky bullpen. But almost everything is working right now.
Let’s go to the numbers.
Game 94, July 11: Cubs 8, Orioles 0 (45-49)
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Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
- Superhero: Justin Steele (.283). 7 IP, 24 batters, 3 H, 4 K (W 2-3)
- Hero: Seiya Suzuki (.176). 3-5, 2 2B, 3B, 3 RBI, R
- Sidekick: Nico Hoerner (.121). 2-4, HBP, 2B, R
THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat: Ian Happ (-.070). 1-4, 2B, RBI, R
- Goat: Pete Crow-Armstrong (-.052). 0-4
- Kid: Christopher Morel (-.026). 0-4, BB, CS
WPA Play of the Game: Seiya Suzuki doubled with a runner on first and two outs in the third, driving in the game’s first run. (.131)
*Orioles Play of the Game: With a runner on first and no out in the fourth inning, the Cubs were up one. Albert Suarez got Dansby Swanson to fly out. (.033). Michael Busch flying out with a runner on first in the first was also .033.
Rizzo Award Cumulative Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)
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.
- Shōta Imanaga +14.5
- Michael Busch +14
- Ben Brown +11
- Seiya Suzuki +10.5
- Porter Hodge/Ian Happ +10
- Tomas Nido/Dansby Swanson -8
- Adbert Alzolay -10
- Miguel Amaya -11
- Kyle Hendricks -15
- Christopher Morel -15.5
*Steele moves into the top 10 at +6, Suzuki up to 4th, Hoerner up to -5.5. Happ drops into a tie for 5th with his second straight Billy Goat, PCA down to -3.5, Morel drops back into last.
Up Next: Four games in three days with the 48-44 Cardinals. The Cardinals were a slowly developing team. They were 1-3 in March, 13-13 in April, 13-12 in May and then 16-12 in June. They are only 5-4 so far in July as they look to continue their move upwards. The Cubs have two four game sets left to conclude their season series with the Cardinals. The two teams will have finished their 2024 complement of games by August 4.
Kyle Hendricks (1-7, 7.53) has struggled through most of 2024. But he does have one appearance against the Cardinals this year, a 4⅓ inning relief outing in which he allowed two hits, no walks and no runs. He’s done some of his best work against the Cardinals through the years. This is a huge start for him as he looks to remain a part of the Cubs rotation.
Sonny Gray (9-5, 3.30) starts for the Cardinals. On May 26, Gray threw five scoreless, allowing only one hit on his way to beating the Cubs.
This is a tough matchup. Let’s see if the team can carry forward their momentum.
