After signing an eight-year, $184 million contract with the Chicago Cubs before the 2016 season, things haven’t gone as hoped for Jason Heyward. He’d annually been a highly valuable player (3-6 WAR annually) and a rock-solid hitter that had just put together a .792 OPS for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2015 as a 25-year-old. The contract absolutely made sense for a seemingly ascending 26-year-old player that appeared to have more potential in his bat.
But he’s really struggled with the Cubs at the plate, with a .674 OPS in his three seasons as a Cub entering play on Wednesday night. He’s shown glimpses of looking better lately, but it still looked a bit questionable for Cubs manager Joe Maddon to bat him second against Phillies ace Aaron Nola on Wednesday night. And Heyward’s especially struggled against left-handed pitching this season, with a .139 batting average and .344 OPS vs southpaws entering Wednesday’s game.
In the bottom of the ninth, Heyward came to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the bases loaded, and the Cubs trailing 5-3. Philadelphia left-hander Adam Morgan, was on the mound.
And this dummy tweeted the following:
Now THIS is where Joe's screwed up. You have Heyward batting with the game on the line, vs a lefty.
Because he was batting 2nd.
This is also like the 3rd time lately that Heyward has been up with the game on the line. Hopefully it works but you don't want this situation.
— Matt Clapp (@TheBlogfines) June 7, 2018
Welp, this is what happened:
Slam the door. #EverybodyIn #Walkoff pic.twitter.com/i4VJ8Y9ows
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 7, 2018
First career walk-off homer.
Third career grand slam. #EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/C1nUK6aZzL
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 7, 2018
A walk-off grand slam that was absolutely crushed. I’ve been thoroughly owned by Heyward and Maddon.
But seriously, that has to be an incredible feeling for Heyward after his struggles. Good for him.
