The West-leading Dodgers come to town and they bring the best pitcher in baseball with them, Clayton Kershaw. No, he hasn’t quite pitched like the best pitcher in baseball this year, but he’s been that guy so consistently for so long that I think it’s fair that he still wears that crown. The Cubs’ bats will have to force him to work a bit, even if they’re not knocking him around – getting Kershaw out early is key, as is working over the bullpen a bit in the first game of this four-game series.
Tsuyoshi Wada is coming off of his best start of the year against the Indians (badass), and he gets a substantially stiffer test tonight, facing the best offense in the NL (by a good margin).
The wind – at present – is blowing out hard. Wada is a big-time fly ball pitcher, which makes you a little nervous. Kershaw is not.
Game Info
Los Angeles Dodgers (39-31) at Chicago Cubs (37-30), 7:05 CT on WGN-9 (or your local affiliate), and MLB.tv.
Game Thread and Series Preview
Your game thread is down there in the comments, so have fun.
The Series Preview lives here.
Starting Pitchers
Clayton Kershaw (3.29 ERA, 2.58 FIP, 2.13 xFIP; 5.30 K/BB)
versus
Tsuyoshi Wada (3.68 ERA, 4.06 FIP, 3.57 xFIP; 2.73 K/BB)
Los Angeles Dodgers Lineup
1. Yasiel Puig, RF
2. Joc Pederson, CF
3. Justin Turner, 3B
4. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
5. Howie Kendrick, 2B
6. Scott Van Slyke, LF
7. Enrique Hernandez, SS
8. A.J. Ellis, C
9. Clayton Kershaw, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. Dexter Fowler, CF
2. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
3. Kris Bryant, 3B
4. Starlin Castro, SS
5. Chris Denorfia, RF
6. Matt Szczur, LF
7. David Ross, C
8. Tsuyoshi Wada, P
9. Addison Russell, 2B