Jeff Samardzija sports the best ERA in baseball, but he has no wins. There you go: you just got every story line possible entering this game.
OK, so there’s also the “best team in baseball versus worst(ish) team in baseball” angle.
The Cubs will face fill-in starter Yusmeiro Petit after Matt Cain was scratched with a hammy issue; we’ll see if they take advantage. The Cubs faced two fill-in starters in San Diego, and had mixed results.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (18-30) at San Francisco Giants (32-18), 3:05 CT on WGN.
Game Thread and Series Preview
Game threads now live here in the comments – and with Disqus, they should be even more enjoyable.
The Series Preview lives here.
Starting Pitchers
Jeff Samardzija (1.46 ERA, 2.86 FIP, 3.45 xFIP; 2.57 K/BB)
versus
Yusmeiro Petit (4.76 ERA, 3.43 FIP, 3.28 xFIP; 4.13 K/BB)
San Francisco Giants Lineup
1. Angel Pagan, CF
2. Hunter Pence, RF
3. Buster Posey, 1B
4. Pablo Sandoval, 3B
5. Michael Morse, LF
6. Hector Sanchez, C
7. Brandon Crawford, SS
8. Brandon Hicks, 2B
9. Yusmeiro Petit, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. Emilio Bonifacio, CF
2. Junior Lake, LF
3. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
4. Starlin Castro, SS
5. Luis Valbuena, 3B
6. Welington Castillo, C
7. Nate Schierholtz, RF
8. Darwin Barney, 2B
9. Jeff Samardzija, P