Series Preview: Cubs at Indians, April 24 – April 25, 2018

The Cubs are back in Cleveland!

For the first time since the 2016 World Series, which ended in the most memorable baseball game of all-time, the Cubs are heading back to Progressive Field for a quick two-game set against the Indians. This’ll be a fun one to watch, even if for the nostalgia, alone.

After this two-game series, the Cubs are actually heading back home to host the Brewers for four and Rockies for three, before hitting the road for a three-gamer against St. Louis. Which means, if you’re counting them up at home, they have 12 straight games against good, competitive teams. If they left this stretch with a winning record, I think you’d have to take that.

We’re Going Streaking

The Chicago Cubs (10-9) may be two games out of first (fourth place), one game over .500, and 5-5 over their last ten games … but I feel oddly zen about their immediate future. I think they’re going to take off any second now.

The Cleveland Indians (12-8) have won three straight contests, propelling them into a 2.5 game lead in the AL Central. Let’s see if the Cubs can’t slow them down a bit.

Game Times and Broadcasts Info

Tuesday, April 24 at 5:10 CT on WGN, MLBN (out-of-market only) 670 The Score

Wednesday, April 25 at 6:10 on NBC Sports Chicago, 670 The Score

Chicago Cubs

Probable Pitchers:

Tyler Chatwood (4.60 ERA, 4.39 FIP; 1.29 K/BB)

Jon Lester (3.10 ERA, 3.52 FIP; 2.25 K/BB)

Active Depth Chart:

C – Willson Contreras

1B – Anthony Rizzo

2B – Javy Baez

3B – Kris Bryant

SS – Addison Russell

LF – Kyle Schwarber

CF – Ian Happ/Albert Almora/Jason Heyward

RF – Jason Heyward

Cleveland Indians

Probable Pitchers:

Josh Tomlin (8.00 ERA, 9.73 FIP; 1.00 K/BB)

Trevor Bauer (2.67 ERA, 3.58 FIP; 2.70 K/BB)

Active Depth Chart:

C – Roberto Perez

1B – Yonder Alonso

2B – Jason Kipnis

3B – Jose Ramirez

SS – Francisco Lindor

LF – Michael Brantley

CF – Bradley Zimmer

RF – Tyler Naquin

*Danny Salazar is on the disabled list.

Keep an Eye Out For …

Cubs Pitcher: Carl Edwards, Jr. is off to a fantastic start this season, and is currently the 7th most valuable reliever in baseball with 0.5 WAR. He’s also currently working on an eight-game (8.2 IP) scoreless streak, during which he’s struck out 17 batters and walked just 2. His 46.5% strikeout rate is 6th best in baseball.

Cubs Player: Ian Happ. This might seem like the smallest of victories, but I’d like to point out that Happ hasn’t struck out in any of his last five plate appearances and has brought his season-long K-rate down to 43.1%. More encouraging, his K-rate is actually under 29% over his last nine games/28 plate appearances. And it’s not like his production has nose-dived over that stretch, either …

Beginning to turn a corner? Yes.

Over his last 28 plate appearances, Ian Happ is slashing .269/.321/.462 (116 wRC+) with a 7.1 BB%, 28.6 K%.

.192 ISO
22.2 GB%
61.1 FB%
16.7 Soft%

His O-swing% is down, Z-swing% up, Z-contact% up, Z-contact% up, Swinging Strike% down.

— Michael Cerami (@Michael_Cerami) April 24, 2018

Indians Pitcher: The Cubs are lucky with their timing this week, because they will miss Corey Kluber (1.96 ERA, 0.9 WAR), Carlos Carrasco (2.31 ERA, 0.8 WAR), and Mike Clevinger (1.75 ERA, 0.6 WAR), all of whom rank among the top 30 pitchers in baseball by overall WAR and ERA. It’s not like Trevor Bauer has been bad, but he hasn’t performed like those three, and Josh Tomlin is just straight-up beatable.

Indians Player: Jose Ramirez has had an interesting start to the season. Although his slash line doesn’t look elite .237/.348/.526 (135 wRC+), he’s still still provided excellent overall production. And that goes double when you factor in his 14.6% walk rate, 6.7% strikeout rate, seven homers, and two stolen bases. It’s a weird 2018 resume, but it’s also pretty intimidating.