On Monday, the Chicago Cubs eliminated the St. Louis Cardinals from contention in the NL Central. On Wednesday, the Cubs clinched the division at Busch Stadium, in front of the (very few) remaining St. Louis faithful. Tonight, the Cubs can eliminate the Cardinals from postseason contention (via the Wild Card) altogether (they have an elimination number of just 1).
And they can do it with their backup lineup.
Kyle Hendricks takes the ball tonight in what we’ll be his final start of the regular season. Given the impending postseasons series against the Nationals, your primary focus tonight will be on Hendricks delivering yet another solid, healthy, and effective start.
Starting opposite Hendricks is free-agent-to-be Lance Lynn. Lynn, 30, will make his 33rd start of the season tonight, and he was pretty good overall here in 2017 0 at least, results-wise (3.47 ERA). His 4.78 FIP was a bit worse, of course, but he was pretty good at limiting hard contact and inducing weak contact, so that FIP is probably a bit off the mark.
His last start, however, was the single worst of his career. In that one, Lynn lasted just 0.2 innings against the Pirates, surrendering eight earned runs on six hits and two walks. Yeah, he faced ten batters and allowed eight of them to score. That’s bonkers … and something I wouldn’t mind seeing the Cubs do to him again tonight.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (89-69) at St. Louis Cardinals (82-76) – 6:15 CT on WGN, 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: Kyle Hendricks (R): 3.14 ERA, 4.01 FIP, 3.90 xFIP; 2.92 K/BB
versus
Cardinals: Lance Lynn (R): 3.47 ERA, 4.77 FIP, 4.73 xFIP; 2.00 K/BB
St. Louis Cardinals:
- Matt Carpenter, 2B
- Tommy Pham, LF
- Dexter Fowler, CF
- Jose Martinez, 1B
- Paul DeJong, SS
- Jedd Gyorko, 3B
- Stephen Piscotty, RF
- Carson Kelly, C
- Lance Lynn, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Leonys Martin, CF
- Tommy La Stella, 2B
- Ian Happ, RF
- Alex Avila, C
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Victor Caratini, 1B
- Taylor Davis, 3B
- Mike Freeman, SS
- Kyle Hendricks, P