NEWSLETTER
If the Cubs finish out this month strong enough, they can reach 80 wins before September. Last season, they didn’t hit that mark until September 14th. Of course, despite needing just four wins with five games left before September 1st, the first two may be the hardest, starting with tonight’s matchup against Noah Syndergaard.
Syndergaard may not be having the best season results-wise here in 2018, but he’s got some very strong peripherals, as we discussed in the series preview, and is sure to be a challenge tonight.
Indeed, in his last start, Syndergaard held the Giants to just 2 runs over 6.0 innings with 1 walk and 6Ks. But he was tagged for 4 earned runs in 5.2 innings the time before that against the Phillies, so he can be gotten to, so to speak. We’ll see if the Cubs offense can keep the furnace burning tonight.
Standing opposite Syndergaard is Cubs veteran Jon Lester. Two starts ago, Lester put a stop to the earned-run bleeding that was his seven previous starts (8.65 ERA), and he followed that up with another solid start in Detroit. He’s got 11 strikeouts and 1 walk over his last 11.2 IP and is hopefully turning a corner at just the right time. The Mets have struggled mightily with left-handers this season, so maybe this is a good matchup for him.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (76-53) vs. New York Mets (58-72) – Monday, August 27th at 7:05 CT on CSN-C, 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): 3.64 ERA, 4.74 FIP; 2.19 K/BB
versus
Mets: Noah Synderfaart (R): 3.38 ERA, 2.62 FIP; 5.05 K/BB
New York Mets:
- Amed Rosario – SS
- Austin Jackson, CF
- Wilmer Flores, 1B
- Todd Frazier, 3B
- Michael Conforto, LF
- Jose Bautista, RF
- Jose Reyes, 2B
- Kevin Plawecki, C
- Noah Syndergaard, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Daniel Murphy, 2B
- Javy Baez, SS
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Ben Zobrist, RF
- Jason Heyward, CF
- Willson Contreras, C
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Jon Lester, P
- David Bote, 3B
