The Phillies and Cubs face off in Chicago today

steemsports (80)in #steemsports • 6 years ago

SteemSports Presenter:@scottybuckets

SteemSports Editor:@theprophet0

The Chicago Cubs host the Philadelphia Phillies today in National League day action in the MLB. This is the third and final game of their 3 game series with each team winning one game so far. First pitch is scheduled for 1:20pm Central Standard Time and can be seen on National Television on Comcast Sports Chicago and the Direct TV Extra Innings package. It will take place at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. The Cubs are small favorites at -117 and the over/under is 8 runs. The forecast is a nice day with little wind.

The Cubs are coming off of a nice 7-5 win on Wednesday night against the Phillies. It was the most exciting ending of the year in all baseball as Cubs outfielder, Jason Heyward, launched a walk off grand slam home run. Wrigley Field went nuts and the Cubs celebrated at home plate. It is hits like that which can propel a team forward and start one heck of a run.

Today the Cubs will send Tyler Chatwood to the mound to try and keep the momentum going. He is having an up and down year so far in his first season on the north side of Chicago. Chatwood is 3-4 with an ERA of 4.02. Those numbers aren’t terrible but they are far from great. His WHIP is a huge concern at 1.73 and he has walked more batters than he has struck out.

The Cubs bats have heated up though and they have the best on base % in all of baseball and the second base batting average. That has helped them go 8-2 in their last 10 games and they are only one game back of the first place Milwaukee Brewers.

The Phillies will try and bounce back after last night’s crushing defeat. They are struggling right now and are only 3-7 in their last 10 games. But they have plenty to be proud of so far this year as they are 32-27 and only 2.5 games behind the Washington Nationals in the NL East.

They will send starting pitcher Nick Pivetta to the bump to try and win the 3 game series against the Cubs. Pivetta is 4-4 with a 3.48 ERA so far on the year. He has an outstanding WHIP of 1.15 and has 70 strikeouts to only 17 walks. Those are dynamite numbers.

Although the Cubs are the favorites today, Philly has an over whelming advantage at pitcher. Pivetta is MUCH better than Chatwood so I would not be surprised to see Philly win today.

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