Okay, let’s try that again.
After losing the NLCS opener, the Chicago Cubs are hoping to leave Los Angeles and head back to Wrigley with a split. All things considered, if you can get a split on the road and go back home for three straight, you’ll probably be in pretty good shape.
To do so, however, they’ll have to get through their old friend Rich Hill first. Hill had another good season in 2017 after reinventing himself with the Dodgers last year. It wasn’t quite as dominant of a performance as 2016, but he’s striking batters out at a 30.1% clip and walking them around league average.
Hill is still almost entirely a fastball/curveball guy, but he’ll work in a slider from time to time, too. Interestingly, that devastating curveball from last season (16.0 pitch value) has dropped off the face of the Earth this year (-2.6). Hopefully, then, Hill hangs a few and the Cubs start mashing some homers.
On the other side, Jon Lester gets the nod for the Cubs, and looks to build off a strong NLDS start in Game Two (6.0 IP, 2H, 1ER, 2BB, 2Ks). Although Lester didn’t strike a ton of guys out last time around, he did record a solid 10 whiffs, most of which came against his fastball (4) and curveball (3). In any case, the results were great, so let’s see if he can do it again.
Remember, though, Lester also threw 3.2 innings against the Nats in Game 4. And while the results were once again good (1ER, 1H, 1BB, 0K), that was just four days ago (and just 4 days after his start). Hopefully he’s well-rested and can help the Cubs get back into this series before they head home to Chicago.
Game Info
Los Angeles Dodgers (1-0) at Chicago Cubs (0-1)Â – 6:30 CT on TBS, 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: Jon Lester (L): 4.33 ERA, 4.10 FIP, 3.85 xFIP; 3.00 K/BB
versus
Dodgers: Rich Hill (L): 3.32 ERA, 3.72 FIP, 3.88 xFIP; 3.39 K/BB
Los Angeles Dodgers Lineup:
- Chris Taylor, CF
- Justin Turner, 3B
- Cody Bellinger, 1B
- Enrique Hernandez, LF
- Logan Forsythe, 2B
- Austin Barnes, C
- Yasiel Puig, RF
- Charlie Culberson, SS
- Rich Hill, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Jon Jay, LF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- Addison Russell, SS
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Javy Baez, 2B
- Jon Lester, P