The Cubs have to hit the road for the next three games but get to face off against a poor opponent in the San Diego Padres. Despite its woes Chicago should be the favorite to claim at least a pair of these games.
The Cubs have lost three consecutive games and have dropped to third place in the National League Central. They have big plans this season but need to start picking it up.
This series will be contested from Monday, May 29 through Wednesday, May 31, 2017 at Petco Park in San Diego, California.
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Pitching Matchups
The Cubs will begin the series by sending out Kyle Hendricks to the mound on Monday. He is 4-2 on the season with a 3.25 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. Hendricks is only allowing a .224 batting average against on the season and will aim to tie up the Padres. San Diego will start Jarred Cosart. He is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA. He gave up four earned runs in 2.2 innings pitched last time out and will aim for improvement.
On Tuesday, Eddie Butler is slated to get the start for Chicago. He is 2-0 on the season with a 1.93 ERA. Butler has more walks than strikeouts on the season, which means his ERA is likely to balloon if he keeps on starting, unless he can improve greatly on that ratio. The Padres will counter with Dinelson Lamet. He only has one start this season but threw a gem, allowing only three hits and a run while striking out eight in five innings pitched.
In the series finale, the Cubs will start Jake Arrieta. He is 5-4 with a 4.92 ERA. Arrieta has struck out 64 batters in 56.2 innings pitched and should start seeing his ERA lower as the year goes on. The Padres will start Luis Perdomo. He is 0-2 with a 5.61 ERA. Perdomo has given up 11 earned runs combined in his past two outings and must be better.
Boom Or Bust
A pair of players who have big power but are struggling to hit for average will be on display. The Padres’ Ryan Schimpf is batting only .163 but has 13 home runs, 24 RBIs and a .736 OPS. He has struck out 59 times in 147 at-bats and will have trouble being productive if his homer binge doesn’t continue.
The Cubs’ Kyle Schwarber is batting just .177 on the season, although he does have an on-base percentage of .297. Schwarber has seven homers and light tower power, but is striking out way too often. He has a ton of talent and hopes to get it rolling against some suspect starting pitchers in this series.
Key Stat
94. That’s San Diego’s negative run-differential, which is the worst in the major leagues. The Padres were expected to be in a rebuilding mode, and that has come to fruition, as the starting pitching has been poor and the offense hasn’t hit very well.
Only the Philadelphia Phillies have a poorer record in the major leagues, and they seem to have more talent than the Padres. As hard as it is to swallow, San Diego fans would probably prefer losses to improve draft positioning as the team is going nowhere in 2017.
The Cubs, meanwhile, hope to get hot and move back into first place in the NL Central. The Cubs are too talented to struggle all season and should make the playoffs, but that’s been the refrain for several weeks now. At some point the team needs to start blowing away teams like it did last year.
Chicago could sweep this series despite being on the road, and it would be a big help to quiet the concerns based on its slow start.
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