NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Cubs pulled off yet another come from behind win last night, and while each and every one of them has been thoroughly enjoyable – particularly the ones against the Cardinals – I wouldn’t mind a good old fashioned beat ’em early, beat ’em often.
But the Cubs offense has their work cut out for them today – or, at least the righties do – because 22-year-old Jack Flaherty has been nothing short of phenomenal in what’s essentially his first full professional season: 14 starts, 3.24 ERA, 3.76 FIP. Among his most impressive qualities is the 28.2% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate. There’s a lot more to this game than a good K/BB ratio, but that sure is one nice foundation upon which success can be easily built. But if that wasn’t enough, Flaherty has also gotten his fair share of grounders (44.7%) and is getting a ton of soft contact (21.9%), so really he’s just been fantastic.
As we discussed in the Lineup Post, left-handers have gotten to him this season, but he’s been dominant enough against righties to avoid any trouble. Here’s hoping everyone on the Cubs can get to him today.
Starting opposite Flaherty is Cubs vet, Jon Lester. Lester had an All-Star first half in the results department, but wasn’t able to back that up with the sort of peripherals that inspire confidence. There’s reason to believe some of his veteran craftiness is playing a roll in those numbers, but there was definitely some luck there too. Hopefully, Lester’s results are just as good in the second half as they were in the first half, but also that the underlying numbers are there too.
A win today would drag the Cardinals down to 9.5 games out of first place and essentially land this 5.0-game series in the wash column (at best) for the Cardinals. Of course, it would also set up the likelihood of a 3-2 series in favor of the Cubs when all is said and done, which would be terrible for St. Louis. And I like when things are terrible for St. Louis.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (56-38) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (48-47) – CSNC, MLBN (out-of-market), Youtube TV, 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): 2.58 ERA, 4.34 FIP; 2.15 K/BB
versus
Cardinals: Jack Flaherty (R): 3.24 ERA, 3.76 FIP; 3.63 K/BB
St. Louis Cardinals:
- Matt Carpenter, 1B
- Yadier Molina, C
- Paul DeJong, SS
- Marcell Ozuna, LF
- Jedd Gyorko, 3B
- Kolton Wong, 2B
- Dexter Fowler, RF
- Tommy Pham, CF
- Jack Flaherty, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Kris Bryant, RF
- Jason Heyward, CF
- Javier Baez, 2B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- Addison Russell, SS
- Jon Lester, P
