NEWSLETTER
If Matt Carpenter hits one more freakin’ home run today, I’m gonna lose it:
https://twitter.com/Cardinals/status/1021039689069998080
But in terms of a general love for baseball, it doesn’t get much better than forcing a five-game rubber match against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field on a Sunday afternoon in July. It’s simply art and I can’t wait to see it play out.
And reminder: At the outset of this giant five-gamer, we said we’d be happy with at least 2 wins – given where the Cardinals are in the standings and where we are on the calendar – and the Cubs have already done that. If they win today, it’s all gravy.
The Cubs are throwing Jose Quintana today and he’s coming off when of his best starts of the year, which was 6.0 scoreless innings against the Giants in San Francisco. In fact, he went 6.0 innings allowing just two earned runs in the start prior (against the Tigers), so he’s actually got the makings of a nice little stretch here, let’s see if he can keep it going.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals are throwing All-Star Miles Mikolas, who had himself a hell of a first-half and has proven a savvy, affordable pickup by this Cardinals front office. Indeed, earlier this season, Mikolas kept the Cubs scoreless for 7.0 innings and didn’t walk a single batter. Let’s hope they do better this afternoon.
Alright, we’ve made it to the finale. Now WIN, Cubs.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (57-40) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (50-48) – ABC-7, 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: Jose Quintana (L): 3.96 ERA, 4.64 FIP; 1.93 K/BB
versus
Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (R): 2.79 ERA, 3.25 FIP; 4.15 K/BB
St. Louis Cardinals:
- Matt Carpenter, 3B
- Yadier Molina, C
- Paul DeJong, SS
- Marcell Ozuna, LF
- Jose Martinez, 1B
- Tommy Pham, CF
- Dexter Fowler, RF
- Yairo Munoz, 2B
- Miles Mikolas, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Javy Baez, 2B
- Ian Happ, CF
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Willson Contreras, C
- Addison Russell, SS
- Jose Quintana, P
