CUBS NINE TO KNOW
1 After games on April 4, the Cubs were 2-1 and tied for first place in the National League Central, the last time they were in first place this season. It was also their high point in games above .500.
2 The Cubs’ highest-scoring game this season came in a Jay Cutler-sounding 14-6 victory against the Astros on June 23. The only other game in which the Cubs scored in double figures was Aug. 19, when they beat the Nationals 11-1.
3 The Cubs longest game of the season was on Aug. 28, when they lost to the Padres 3-2 in 15 innings. The game took 5 hours, 13 minutes.
4 The Cubs were 14-13 in July, their only winning month of the season.
5 Game Score is a metric developed by Bill James to evaluate a pitcher’s performance in a game. There were 18 games this season in which a pitcher had a 90+ Game Score. The Cubs’ high was by Jeff Samardzija, who scored an 89 when he threw a two-hit shutout against the White Sox on May 27.
6 The Red Sox’ Will Middlebrooks led the majors this season with 14 total bases in a game (three home runs and a double). Dioner Navarro had the Cubs’ biggest game in that category when he hit three homers and totaled 12 total bases against the White Sox on May 29.
7 Do you remember the Cubs’ last walk-off homer? It was Anthony Rizzo going deep against the Cardinals on July 29, 2012. Yup, there were no walk-off homers at Wrigley this season.
8 The Cubs’ bullpen had the worst home ERA of any NL team at 4.43.
9 Starlin Castro edged Anthony Rizzo 75-74 for the most hits this season at Wrigley, but Castro hit .229 and Rizzo .242 in the ballpark. On the plus side, Dioner Navarro hit .336 and Welington Castillo .290 at Wrigley.