And now you get to face Jake Arrieta.
That’s the Cardinals’ reward for losing the back-and-forth affair yesterday, and I couldn’t be more pleased about it. In literally every other series of the year the rest of the way, I’m going to have some cognitive dissonance about wins and losses (hard to root against the Cubs, but my brain will know that it’s probably better in the long-run if they lose). But when it’s the Cardinals? Eff them. Win every game.
Which reminds me: these series are going to be so freaking exciting when the Cubs are actually good.
Get ready for A.J. Pierzynski.
Game Info
St. Louis Cardinals (54-48) at Chicago Cubs (42-59), 3:05 CT on CSN.
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
Shelby Miller (4.25 ERA, 4.79 FIP, 4.88 xFIP; 1.33 K/BB)
versus
Jake Arrieta (2.12 ERA, 2.14 FIP, 2.79 xFIP; 3.72 K/BB)
St. Louis Cardinals Lineup
1. Matt Carpenter, 3B
2. Kolten Wong, 2B
3. Matt Holliday, LF
4. Matt Adams, 1B
5. Jhonny Peralta, SS
6. A.J. Pierzynksi, C
7. Oscar Taveras, RF
8. Jon Jay, CF
9. Shelby Miller, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. Emilio Bonifacio, 2B
2. Arismendy Alcantara, CF
3. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
4. Starlin Castro, SS
5. Luis Valbuena, 3B
6. Chris Coghlan, LF
7. Welington Castillo, C
8. Ryan Sweeney, RF
9. Jake Arrieta, P