Despite two ten-game winning streaks before the end of May, the Chicago Cubs are tied in the loss column with the Milwaukee Brewers, who’ve come surging back from last place with a 10-4 month of May.
With three more wins than the Brewers, the Cubs still have a 1.5-game lead in the NL Central, but it’s a mighty tight division (and that’s without mentioning the fact that the Cardinals have just one more loss than the Cubs and Brewers as of Monday morning). Woof.
But here’s the good news: the Cubs have arguably their best starters going this series. Well, best they can produce without Cade Horton, Matthew Boyd, or Justin Steele.
Tonight, Shota Imanaga will face Brandon Sproat in what is – by far – the most winnable game of the series. Tomorrow, Ben Brown, who’s been great but on a tight pitch count, squares up against Jacob Misiorowski in the least winnable game of the series. And on Wednesday, the finale will be started by a struggling Edward Cabrera for the Cubs and a red-hot left-hander, Kyle Harrison, for the Brewers.
Harrison has been really quite fantastic this season, but the Cubs are still the second-best offense in MLB versus left-handed pitching, so maybe that will help. That said, the Brewers (109 wRC+, 8th best) are one of the top offenses versus right-handed pitching, so maybe it all evens out.
That does underscore how winnable and important tonight’s game is, though, because Shota Imanaga, a lefty, has been awesome all season and the Brewers are one of the weakest offenses vs LHP. Really can’t afford to lose that first one, unfortunately.
The First Cubs-Brewers Series of the Season Starts Tonight – Here’s What You Need to Know (via Michael Cerami)
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