2026 Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 14

Reminder: I’m on vacation all this week and will be a little briefer than usual and one or more pieces could be delayed. Thanks for your patience.

If you’re not one of my longtime readers, this is a great jumping-in point. By about the third inning Saturday, I saw the season declared as over, the team described as garbage and had officially muted my first Cub-focused Twitter user of the season. I don’t have any interest in gloom and doom. Any time I’m looking for that, I can dial into the outside world. Baseball is where I go to unwind and have fun.

For me, the strangest thing that I’ve learned in my time blogging about baseball over the last 10 years is what a significant part of the fan experience doom and gloom is for some portion of the fanbase. Is it frustrating when the Cubs have a pitcher throw six no-hit innings and end up losing anyway? Absolutely. Is it a compound wound when for four innings the next day they haven’t scored? Yes, it is.

I saw one person post in the comments to Game 13 how much this reminded them of 2025. That’s a fair comment. That’s the concern. But I’m certainly not giving up on this team before the weather even warms up. This team benefits greatly from the long ball and it doesn’t help when that is suppressed. Both teams play in those conditions, but not all teams have nine or more players who could legitimately hit double digit homers. They had eight do it last year with their third catcher at nine and Nico Hoerner at 7. I feel like their whole regular nine less Hoerner but possibly also Matt Shaw are legit double digit homer guys. Miguel Amaya or Michael Conforto might challenge double digits with enough playing time.

When the Cubs did play in the dome in Tampa, the ball was jumping and they did win two of three. So I’m going to wait before I rule this team buried. This has been a frustrating stretch. Every season for the best and worst teams includes frustrating stretches. Keep the faith.

Three Positives:

• Moisés Ballesteros was two for two before being lifted from the game. He’s been one of the most productive bats in the early going. I’m not sure I want to see him instantly lifted every time a lefty comes in. I know sometimes a bat gets overexposed when getting extra playing time. But I’d lean a little heavier and see where that point is.
• Alex Bregman had a pair of hits including a game-tying RBI single in the ninth.
• Hoby Milner has been terrific so far. He faced the top of the order in the ninth inning and worked a perfect inning, giving the team a chance to tie in the bottom of the inning.

Game 14, April 11: Pirates 4, Cubs 3 (8-6)

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

THREE HEROES:

• **Superhero:**Daniel Palencia (.308). IP, 4 BF, 0 H, BB, 0 R, 0 K
• **Hero:**Alex Bregman (.196 ). 2-6, RBI
• Sidekick: Nico Hoerner (.075 ). 1-6, RBI

THREE GOATS:

• **Billy Goat:**Seiya Suzuki (-.440 ). 1-4
• Goat: Ian Happ (-.235 ). 0-5, BB
• Kid: Matt Shaw (-.183). 0-1

WPA Play of the Game: Alex Bregman’s game-tying single with two out in the bottom of the ninth. (.468)

*Pirates Play of the Game: With first and second and two outs in the 11th, Brandon Lowe batted with runners on first and second. He reached on an error and the go ahead and eventual winning run scored. (.331)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Game 13 Player of the Game: Shōta Imanaga received 121 of 123 votes.

Up Next: In the third and final game of the series, Jameson Taillon matches up with Bubba Chandler.