The Chicago Cubs were expected to run away and hide with the National League Central this season, but the reality is much different. The struggling defending World Series champions are under .500 nearly a quarter if the way into the season. The St. Louis Cardinals are ahead of the Cubs in the standings and will aim to stay there when they face off in a three-game series this weekend.
The Cubs have overtaken St. Louis as the class of the division but this is still a matchup of two top teams and it should be an intriguing showdown. Chicago has been better at home than on the road this season and hopes a return to the friendly confines will be the antidote to the recent skid.
This series will be contested from Friday, June 2 through Sunday, June 4, 2017 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. Saturday’s matchup will be broadcast on MLB Network. Friday’s matchup will be broadcast on MLB Network and Sunday’s game can be seen on ESPN.
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Pitching Matchups
The Cardinals will begin the series by sending Lance Lynn to the mound. He is 4-3 on the season with a 2.93 ERA. Lynn had his worst start of the year last time out when he gave up four earned runs in five innings against the Rockies and will aim to bounce back. The Cubs will counter with John Lackey, who is 4-5 with a 5.18 ERA but has the type of peripheral numbers that suggest a turnaround is coming.
On Saturday, St. Louis is scheduled to start Mike Leake. He is 5-3 with a sparkling 2.24 ERA. Leake isn’t a huge strikeout guy but he has good control and had his ERA below 2.00 before getting touched up a bit last time out. The Cubs will send ace Jon Lester to the hill in a game that could be a pitcher’s duel. Lester is 3-3 with a 3.86 ERA following a poor outing against the Dodgers, but he should be able to shake that one off.
The series finale will feature Cardinals starter Michael Wacha against the Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks. Wacha is 2-3 on the year with a 3.99 ERA. Hendricks is 4-3 with a 3.75 ERA. Both are solid hurlers, so the batters are going to need to put together good at-bats to get on base.
Key Stat
Six. That’s how many games in a row the Cubs have lost coming into this series. Chicago was swept by the Dodgers and the Padres in back-to-back road series and will be eager to turn things around this weekend back home at Wrigley.
With all its talent, the Cubs offense has been struggling to generate hits lately and was shut out twice in the series against the Dodgers last weekend. They were also outscored 13-5 by the Padres this week.
Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and Anthony Rizzo, three of the team’s top hitters, already have 31 home runs between them so far this season, but Rizzo and Schwarber are not playing up to their capabilities. They are the three players most likely to provide the much-needed spark the Cubs offense needs right now.
Player To Watch
Jedd Gyorko --- The Cardinals third baseman became a father for the third time this week and will miss the first two days of this three-game series against the Cubs on paternity leave. He will return Sunday for the final matchup.
Gyorko has eight home runs this season and 22 RBIs. He’s hitting .316 with an on-base percentage of .366, so his absence is considerable.
The 28-year-old hit a solo home run against Lester and the Cubs the last time these two teams faced off in mid-May. He and the rest of the Cardinals lineup will be seeing Hendricks for the first time this season on Sunday.
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