2024 Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 105

Denny Medley-USA TODAY SportsThe Cubs didn’t show up on Friday night. That’s not going to surprise anyone because they basically haven’t returned from the All-Star break. I’ll only back off from that broad brush to say that the pitching has been very good. As has been the case, by and large the pitching staff has been good enough for this to be a playoff team.

I was originally going to qualify that as the starting rotation. But I’m going to say that even when the bullpen was dragging the team the first couple of months, so many of those games were one run leads that got away. Teams generally convert the overwhelming majority of the games in which they lead going into the ninth. That’s true…