5 Christian Yelich, 43 percent
If, as appears increasingly possible, the Cubs fail to hang on to their wild card berth, they can blame Yelich.
On Friday, he slammed a three-run home run that erased an early Chicago lead and powered the Brewers to an eventual 7-1 victory.
The situation was substantially more dramatic Saturday night. Cubs starter Yu Darvish held Milwaukee to no runs and three hits, and Addison Russell’s home run gave the Cubs an early leg up.
But Cubs manager Joe Madden felt constrained to lift Darvish after five innings and 72 pitches, entrusting the final dozen outs to that least trustworthy of entities, the Chicago bullpen. The result was predictable: Milwaukee tied the game, Chicago went back ahead, and Milwaukee tied the game again.
That set the stage for Yelich at his favorite moment, the ninth inning of a close game.
Russell himself opened the door, throwing away a potential first out with a bad toss on Tyler Austin’s leadoff grounder. Reliever Brandon Kintzler retired the next two batters, then worked a 2-2 count on Yelich.
KIntzler’s 2-2 pitch was a sinker strategically positioned just off the plate outside. Or so he thought; Yelich reached out and drove the ball to the wall in left. When Kyle Schwarber overran the carom trying to make a desperation catch, Austin breezed around the bases with the winning run.