The Cubs haven’t totally clicked yet this season but have a deep lineup and an excellent pitching staff. It’s only a matter of time until they get hot and pull away from the rest of the contenders in the National League Central.
This is a game between two of the most popular teams in baseball and each are good this year. It should be a lot of fun and there will be plenty of eyeballs on the North Side this week. The Cubs have the inferior record on the season but should be favored to capture the majority of the matchups in this three-game series.
This series will be contested from Friday, May 5 through Sunday, May 7, 2017 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. The Friday game will be shown on MLB Network, Saturday’s contest will be on FOX and the “Sunday Night Baseball” matchup will be nationally televised on ESPN.
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Pitching Matchups
The Cubs will begin the series by sending soft-tossing but effective starter Kyle Hendricks to the mound on Friday. He is 2-1 on the season with a 4.18 ERA and a 1.1 WHIP, but has a career earned run average of 2.99 and has the ability to shut down tough lineups. The Yankees will counter with Michael Pineda, who has harnessed his stuff this season and pitched well, entering with a 3-1 record and a 3.14 ERA.
Chicago is scheduled to start veteran Brett Anderson on Saturday. He has been oft-injured during his career but is effective when healthy. He has a 2-1 record on the year but an ugly 6.23 ERA, which the left-hander will aim to lower in this one. Anderson has been really good in three outings and really bad in two, so it will be interesting to see which pitcher shows up. The Yankees will send out youngster Jordan Montgomery. He is 1-1 on the season with a 4.15 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP.
The series finale on ESPN will feature Cubs ace Jon Lester against New York’s dynamic young hurler Luis Severino. Lester has been among the best pitchers in baseball for the past several years and enters this one with a 1-1 record and a 3.67 ERA. Severino is 2-2 with a 3.86 ERA and has a sparkling WHIP of 0.95.
First Inning Blues
The Yankees figure to be the underdog in the majority of these games, and it will serve them well to get off to a good start. Luckily, the Cubs have been awful in the first inning this year. The team ERA in the first is 11.00, which means Chicago gives up an average of more than one run per first inning on the season.
It is something that will obviously get reduced as the season moves along, but New York would be well-served to attack early on if the Cubs pitchers are still finding their touch. The Yankees’ offense has been excellent offensively this season, led by rookie outfielder Aaron Judge. He is batting .330 with a ridiculous 13 homers in only 26 games.
Shortstop Starlin Castro has also been a key piece, hitting .360 in the earlygoing with a .952 OPS. The Cubs have a solid pitching staff, but the Yankees’ top of the order has been potent this year, which could lead to more first-inning woes for Chicago.
Waking Up The Bats
Chicago has one of the deepest and most talented batting lineups in the major leagues, but it’s not hitting on all cylinders yet. Kris Bryant has been good, batting .291 with five homers, 15 RBIs and a .947 OPS, but he hasn’t gotten enough help.
Slugger Kyle Schwarber is hitting under .200 on the season, while Ben Zobrist, Addison Russell and Wilson Contreras have yet to get it rolling either. The Cubs are still above .500 and their players have enough on-base skills to always keep it interesting, but this team won’t truly take off until everybody warms up.
The Cubs face a couple of talented hurlers in Pineda and Severino, but have the type of offense which cane score runs on anybody. Chicago is waiting for a breakout, and it could come in this series when it welcomes the streaking Yankees to town.
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