INSTA-UPDATE: This game will start in a delay, and it has the potential to be a long one:
Tonight’s game will not start on time as inclement weather/heavy rain is forecast to enter the area.
With this being the Dodgers lone trip to Chicago this season, every effort will be made to play this game tonight. pic.twitter.com/5MFEc5ZKnT
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 18, 2018
The Cubs did not get a chance to face the Dodgers earlier in the year, when they were struggling to win against crappy teams. But they will now have the luxury of facing them 7 times in the next 11 days, when they’ve been hot as heck. Pardon my vulgarity.
So hopefully, Tyler Chatwood has it tonight. And by “it,” of course, I mean command, because boy has it been a problem for him. To be fair, he did walk only two batters his last time out, but he also allowed four earned runs in 5.0 innings during that start. So it was a bit of a mixed bag. It’s also worth pointing out that Willson Contreras caught him that game, but won’t be catching him tonight.
Instead, Chatwood will be working with Chris Gimenez again, so hopefully the veteran has some words of wisdom for him. Of course, the last time Gimenez caught Chatwood (June 7), he walked seven batters, so …
Meanwhile, Kenta Maeda will be starting for the Dodgers tonight and he’s been pretty great this season in the actual results department (3.61 ERA) and the underlying performance (3.02 FIP). His biggest strength has arguably been his ability to strike batter out (28.1%), but he doesn’t get very many ground balls at all (37.7%) and allows plenty of hard contact (34.4%). The Cubs will have to put the ball in play to win this one, so I guess it’s a good thing they’re contact skills seem to be up this year.
Game Info
Los Angeles Dodgers (37-33) at Chicago Cubs (40-28) – Monday, June 18 at 7:05 CT on NBC Sports Chicago, 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: Tyler Chatwood (R): 4.12 ERA, 4.76 FIP, 1.00 K/BB
versus
Dodgers: Kenta Maeda (R): 3.61 ERA, 3.02 FIP; 3.29 K/BB
Los Angeles Dodgers Lineup:
- Joc Pedersno, CF
- Max Muncy, 2B
- Justin Turner, 3B
- Yasmani Grandal, C
- Matt Kemp, LF
- Cody Bellinger, 1B
- Chris Taylor, SS
- Yasiel Puig, RF
- Kenta Maeda, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Ben Zobrist, 2B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Ian Happ, CF
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Addison Russell, SS
- Chris Gimenez, C
- Tyler Chatwood, P