Pre-Gamin’: Dodgers at Cubs (7:05 CT) – Lineup, Broadcast Info, Game Thread

The Chicago Cubs have won six games in a row and just like that their “losing ways” of a couple weeks ago have been forgotten.

That said, I’m not quite sure they’re going to make it to seven tonight.

No I haven’t lost faith in Jake Arrieta or the offense or anything of the nature. Instead, it’s raining pretty hard around Wrigley and has been for some quite some time. But if they do manage to get the whole game off, at least it’ll be Jake Day!

Speaking of which, Jake Arrieta is coming off of one of his worst starts in recent memory. Last time out came against the Cardinals and Arrieta managed to last just 5.0 innings (pretty rare for him), while giving up four runs (pretty rare for him) in the process. He did have his control, though (just one walk) and hey, no one can be a super hero every time out there.

As Brett said in the lineup discussion earlier today, there are not really any irregularities in the Cubs lineup tonight; it’s about as regular as regular gets (it’s fun that I can say that with Jorge Soler fully in mind). The lineup will be taking on lefty Scott Kazmir, who, despite being a lefty, has actually been better against righties for his post-revitalized career.

Regardless of who’s pitching, the Cubs lineup is pretty much always balanced, because of the switch hitters (Ben Zobrist and Dexter Fowler) and two sluggers (Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant). Once those four are in and accounted for, the rest is gravy. If the Cubs manage to win tonight (as they tend to do when Jake Arrieta is on the mound), it will be seven in a row.

Game Info

Los Angeles Dodgers (27-25) at Chicago Cubs (35-14), 1:20 CT on ABC-7, ESPN, 670 The Score.

Game Thread and Series Preview

Your game thread is down there in the comments, so have fun. But keep it “safe for work” type fun, all right?

The Series Preview lives here. The Lineup Discussion lives here.

Starting Pitchers

Cubs: Jake Arrieta (R): 1.72 ERA, 2.73 FIP, 3.11 xFIP; 3.19 K/BB

versus

Dodgers: Scott Kazmir (L): 4.84 ERA, 5.14 FIP, 4.12 xFIP; 2.73 K/BB

Los Angeles Dodgers Lineup:

1. Chase Utley, 2B

2. Corey Seager, SS

3. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B

4. Joc Pederson, CF

5. Trayce Thompson, LF

6. Howie Kendrick, 3B

7. Yasiel Puig, RF

8. Yasmani Grandal, C

9. Scott Kazmir, P

Chicago Cubs Lineup:

1. Dexter Fowler, CF

2. Jason Heyward, RF

3. Kris Bryant, 3B

4. Anthony Rizzo, 1B

5. Ben Zobrist, 2B

6. Jorge Soler, LF

7. Addison Russell, SS

8. Miguel Montero, C

9. Jake Arrieta, P