The West-leading Dodgers host the Cubs tonight, and they are rolling out a particularly hostile welcome mat: Clayton Kershaw. I beg you, don’t even bother looking at his numbers over the last couple months. To say he’s been hot and absurdly unhittable would be a gross understatement. There’s virtually no chance he does not dominate the Cubs tonight.
So, not unlikely yesterday with Madison Bumgarner, the hope has to be: (1) make Kershaw work (which is tough, because he is often ruthlessly efficient); and (2) get lucky with some hits strung together at the right times.
On the other side, the Cubs will need a great outing from Jason Hammel to stay in this one. He was the best he’s been in a long time in his last start, but he’s going to need to bust out the kind of outing that was commonplace for him in the first half: 6/7 innings, 1/2 runs, lots of Ks and very few baserunners.
Dexter Fowler (shin) is back in the lineup, and Kyle Schwarber gets the night off against the tough lefty.
Game Info
Los Angeles Dodgers (70-56) at Chicago Cubs (73-53), 9:10 CT on WGN-9 (or your local affiliate), MLBN 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 (2.29 ERA, 2.12 FIP, 2.12 xFIP; 6.94 K/BB)
versus
Jason Hammel (3.35 ERA, 3.64 FIP, 3.37 xFIP; 4.79 K/BB)
Los Angeles Dodgers Lineup
1. Jimmy Rollins, SS
2. Chase Utley, 2B
3. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
4. Justin Turner, 3B
5. Andre Ethier, RF
6. Carl Crawford, LF
7. Yasmani Grandal, C
8. Enrique Hernandez, CF
9. Clayton Kershaw, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. Dexter Fowler, CF
2. Chris Denorfia, RF
3. Kris Bryant, 3B
4. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
5. Starlin Castro, 2B
6. Matt Szczur, LF
7. Miguel Montero, C
8. Jason Hammel, P
9. Addison Russell, SS