Let’s put it this way.
Since 2008, teams whose starting pitchers who have had as good an outing as Cole Hamels did Saturday — seven innings, three hits, two runs, eight strikeouts — went 16-11. That’s pretty good.
But in that same time frame, teams whose starting pitchers had an outing as good as Miles Mikolas had Saturday — eight innings, five hits, one run, six strikeouts — went 21-6.
And that’s really the entire difference in the Cubs’ 2-1 loss to the Cardinals Saturday afternoon. Hamels was really good.