I have to ask, after spending yet another game in the Wrigley Field bleachers last night … is there anywhere else like it?
I just cannot get enough of the food, the beer, the atmosphere, and, most of all, the people. There’s just so much happiness, passion, and comedy out there, it’s amazing. I really, truly love it. If you’ve never been to the bleachers – or haven’t been in a while – just give them a shot. You won’t be disappointed.
The Cubs have a chance to win another series today, though they’ll have to go through Jeff Samardzija first. Old friend Shark’s having a really weird year for the Giants this season. Despite an elevated 4.57 ERA, his 2.89 FIP and 2.86 xFIP tell a much different story. He’s actually working with a fantastic 28.5 K% and 4.0 BB%, which is about as good as it gets for non-Clayton Kershaw-type pitchers.
In fact, he’s been really unlucky across the board. Compared to his career, 2017 Samardzija is working with an elevated BABIP and HR/FB ratio, and a ridiculously low strand rate. He’s getting more soft contact than ever before and about the same amount of hard contact as ever. His groundball rate is down, but overall he should be getting far better results than he has. Hopefully the positive regression doesn’t start until tomorrow.
For the Cubs, Eddie Butler gets his third shot at starting. His first two, you might recall, were split down the middle – one great, one bad – though there were some external explanations for the struggles. Hopefully, he reestablishes his command early on in this one and dominates once again.
Game Info
San Francisco Giants (20-28) at Chicago Cubs (24-21) – 1:20 CT on ABC-7, MLBN (out of market), 670 The Score
Game Thread and Series Preview
Your game thread is down in the comments, so let’s have some good, clean (safe-for-work) fun today.
Starting Pitchers
Cubs: Eddie Butler (R): 2.00 ERA, 3.93 FIP, 5.06 xFIP; 1.00 K/BB
versus
Giants: Jeff Samardzija (R): 4.57 ERA, 2.89 FIP, 2.85 xFIP; 7.10 K/BB
San Francisco Giants Lineup:
- Denard Span, CF
- Joe Panik, 2B
- Brandon Belt, 1B
- Buster Posey, C
- Brandon Crawford, SS
- Justin Ruggiano, RF
- Mac Williamson, LF
- Christian Arroyo, 3B
- Jeff Samardzija, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Ben Zobrist, 2B
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Ian Happ, CF
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Miguel Montero, C
- Javy Baez, SS
- Eddie Butler, P