Dodgers Star Hit With Brutal Stray After MVP Frontrunner's Huge Game
Newsweek · C · trust 34/100
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Kyle Tucker is in the middle of a brutal stretch of baseball .
Making matters worse, an outfielder on his former team, the Chicago Cubs, is the current favorite to win National League MVP.
That dichotomy alone might be enough to drive Dodgers fans crazy, but a sportswriter put forth a stat on Monday night that encapsulates Tucker's whole season in just two sentences.
Meghan Montemurro, the Cubs beat writer for the Chicago Tribune, noted on social media that Tucker's former teammate, Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, had a truly incredible game Monday night.
"Pete Crow-Armstrong's performance tonight -- featuring 2 HRs, 2B, 1B, BB, K, SB and 3 RBIs -- added 0.5 fWAR to his season total, which is wild," Montemurro wrote.
For those unfamiliar, the fWAR stat calculates wins above replacement (the f stands for FanGraphs, the site whose calculus was used).
A number like 4 for a whole season is someone who's likely an All-Star, so getting 0.5 fWAR in just one game is absolutely extraordinary.
Tucker's season has been ... less than extraordinary.
Before Tuesday's game, Tucker was on an 0-for-25 streak at the plate , a low point in a season full of more downs than ups.
It's been so bad, in fact, that Tucker's fWAR for the whole season is 0.4, per Montemurro.
It's possible, though, that Montemurro checked that stat before Monday night's game ended.
Not only did Tucker go 0-for-5, adding to that terrible hitless streak, but he had a fielding error.
FanGraphs shows his fWAR is 0.3 for the 2026 season, as of Tuesday afternoon.
According to those stats, PCA did more to help his team on Monday night alone than Tucker has done for the Dodgers all season.
The Dodgers, including manager Dave Roberts, are emphasizing their support of Tucker during these struggles, reports Ryan Anderson of the California Post .
“It’s not from lack of effort, or care,” Roberts said. “It’s just kind of right now, I think he’s kind of fighting.”
That care was apparent in views of a clearly emotional Tucker in the dugout Monday night.
The only question now is, will Monday night be a turning point in his season, or will it be, as he put it, another "roadblock."
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