No, it won’t be easy against Madison Bumgarner, but the Cubs can win this series today. It’ll probably take Dan Haren’s best outing as a Cub, and a few well-time hits from a bit of a crazy lineup, but it’s doable.
On the bright side, a Haren-Bumgarner match-up on the road against a good team, when the Cubs are missing Jorge Soler and (kind of) Dexter Fowler, is probably about as unlikely as a win gets. So, then, a loss today shouldn’t bum you out. A win, on the other hand – again, it’s possible! – would be pretty freaking sweet. Lots of upside today, and very little downside. (Did I convince you?)
The Giants aren’t fielding their best, healthy squad, either, so there’s that.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (73-52) at San Francisco Giants (67-59), 2:45 CT on CSN and MLB.tv. They just lowered the price on it to $9.99 for the rest of the year, by the way.
Game Thread and Series Preview
Your game thread is down there in the comments, so have fun.
The Series Preview lives here.
Starting Pitchers
Dan Haren (3.76 ERA, 4.88 FIP, 4.60 xFIP; 3.71 K/BB)
versus
Madison Bumgarner (3.02 ERA, 2.85 FIP, 3.00 xFIP; 6.43 K/BB)
San Francisco Giants Lineup
1. Nori Aoki, LF
2. Matt Duffy, 3B
3. Brandon Belt, 1B
4. Buster Posey, C
5. Marlon Byrd, RF
6. Kelby Tomlinson, 2B
7. Juan Perez, CF
8. Ehire Adrianza, SS
9. Madison Bumgarner, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. Chris Denorfia, LF
2. Kyle Schwarber, C
3. Kris Bryant, RF
4. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
5. Starlin Castro, 2B
6. Addison Russell, SS
7. Matt Szczur, CF
8. Dan Haren, P
9. Jonathan Herrera, 3B