The Pirates are going for a sweep tonight against the Cubs, a subject about which I have some mixed feelings. All I can say is I’m likely to feel just fine about whatever the outcome tonight, as long as everyone stays healthy.
Jake Arrieta, individually, will look to contribute to his Cy Young campaign while simultaneously hopefully not showing the Pirates too much upon which they can build in 10 days. I believe I saw Sahadev Sharma tweet that Gerrit Cole threw a career high percentage of fastballs against the Cubs on Friday, so clearly there was some gamesmanship going on.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (89-65) at Pittsburgh Pirates (95-60), 7:08 CT on ESPN 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
A.J. Burnett (3.15 ERA, 3.27 FIP, 3.56 xFIP; 3.00 K/BB)
versus
Jake Arrieta (1.88 ERA, 2.45 FIP, 2.70 xFIP; 4.58 K/BB)
Pittsburgh Pirates Lineup
1. Gregory Polanco, RF
2. Starling Marte, LF
3. Andrew McCutchen, CF
4. Aramis Ramirez, 3B
5. Neil Walker, 2B
6. Francisco Cervelli, C
7. Pedro Alvarez, 1B
8. Jordy Mercer, SS
9. A.J. Burnett, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. Dexter Fowler, CF
2. Kyle Schwarber, LF
3. Kris Bryant, 3B
4. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
5. Starlin Castro, 2B
6. Jorge Soler, RF
7. Miguel Montero, C
8. Addison Russell, SS
9. Jake Arrieta, P