Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (51-26) at New York Mets (40-37)

In Series Previews by berselius91 Comments

I feel like I should be more fired up for this series than I am. The Cubs swept the Mets in both regular season series last year, and we saw how much that meant in the playoffs. Now both teams are coming off a 4-6 stretch with injury problems. For the Mets, the scariest sounding one is that Noah Syndergaard has a bone spur in his elbow. Of course, we found out earlier this year that Lester does too, but so far it hasn’t been a problem. Judging from Thor’s 2.49 ERA, it might not be a huge deal for him either. The NY media is probably overreacting after he gave up five runs in his last start, but it’s not like bone spurs just appear out of nowhere. They’re also missing Lucas Duda to a back injury, and David Wright to multiple far more serious back injuries. He must really be a modern day Chas. Radbourne, who also needed two hours to warm up before every game he played. I still have no idea why he hasn’t retired. The Mets probably wish that was injured this year given how poorly he’s pitched, and it’s a testament to his early numbers that he’s brought down his ERA to “only” 4.55 in the past month.

Team Leaders

Cubs

Metropolitans

  • OBP: Yoenis Cespedes (.360)
  • ISO: Cespedes (.270)
  • HR: Cespedes (18)
  • R+RBI: Cespedes (84)
  • wRC+: Cespedes (148)
  • BSR: Duda (0.9)
  • SP K/9: Noah Syndergaard (10.94)
  • SP BB/9: Syndergaard/Bartolo Colon (1.45)
  • SP FIP: Syndergaard (1.94)
  • RP K/9: Hansel Robles (10.8)
  • RP BB/9: Addison Reed (2.00)
  • RP FIP: Jeurys Familia (2.25)
  • WAR: Syndergaard (3.7)

Gotta love when half your lineup has a better OBP than the best guy on the opposing team.

Pitching Matchups

K/9, BB/9, ERA, FIP, Projected ERA listed for each pitcher

Thursday: John Lackey, RHP (9.34, 2.47, 3.29, 3.41, 3.33) vs Steven Matz, LHP (8.57, 1.76, 3.29, 2.94, 3.34), 6:10 PM CT

I had no idea Matz was having such a solid year. Pretty much the only beef you could have is that it seems like he’s racking up way too many pitches, which seems strange for a guy who walks as few batters as he does. He averages just less than six innings per start. Of course, it could also be something similar to another pitcher we know well who walks few batters but doesn’t go too deep into many games. Matz is coming off a beatdown by the mighty Braves offense, who chased him in the fifth after scoring six runs.

Friday: Jason Hammel. RHP (7.21, 2.78, 2.58, 3.88, 3.93) vs Jacob deGrom, RHP (8.56, 2.11, 2.67, 3.00, 2.93), 6:10 PM CT

Unlike Matz deGrom handled the Braves just fine, throwing eight shoutout innings with six strikeouts. Based on the grumbling I remember seeing from Mets fans on twitter he’s been getting jack shit for run support. I can’t remember who the most recent Cub was who kept having this problem, though I think it was Jeff Samardzija. Also, as a Cocker Spaniel owner I am constantly reminded of all the jokes about his hair during last year’s playoffs.

Saturday: Jake Arrieta, RHP (9.70, 3.50, 2.10, 2.76, 2.59) vs Bartolo Colon, RHP (5.93, 1.43, 2.86, 3.68, 4.15), 6:15 PM CT

This should the biggest difference in pitching styles we see all year (dying laughing). For all the recent hand-wringing about Arrieta, he still has a sub-3 FIP. But it’s not great seeing those walk totals balloon this year to nearly twice as much as last season. As much as we all love Colon, he’s been pretty good at pitching on top of being a fun totem of baseball twitter. He’s been working deeper into games, and has had only one start all season where he gave up more than three runs.

Sunday: Jon Lester, LHP (8.72, 2.03, 2.03, 3.33, 3.13) vs Noah Syndergaard, RHP (11.01, 1.44, 2.49, 1.91, 2.86), 12:10 PM CT

Even aside from this awesome pitching matchup, I have no idea how this wasn’t Game Of The Week’d by ESPN. Instead they went with….Miami-Atlanta? The Fuck? I feel like this is the second time this month they’ve had the Barves on Sunday Night Baseball. Not that I’m complaining, I’d much rather have Len and JD calling the game, but this is really strange.

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  2. Author
    berselius

    To-day’s base ball squadron

    Zobrist (RF)
    Bryant
    Rizzo
    Contreras
    Baez (2b)
    Szczur (LF)
    Russell
    Lackey
    Almora

    Missing you, Jorge and Dex

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  9. dmick89

    uncle dave,

    Yeah, I also like that he could play if he wants to.

    Jason: Hey Joe, I think I’m going to stay back at the hotel and watch the ultimate cut of Batman vs. Superman tonight. Good luck.

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  19. Rizzo the Rat

    dmick89,

    I think he’d win easily if the season ended today. Murphy is the only position player I can think of who’d likely take votes away. Of course, it’s also possible that voters would go for Kershaw again.

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  21. Author
    berselius

    Rizzo the Rat:
    dmick89,

    I think he’d win easily if the season ended today. Murphy is the only position player I can think of who’d likely take votes away. Of course, it’s also possible that voters would go for Kershaw again.

    Bryce Harper?

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  25. uncle dave

    Even though he struck out, love watching our pitchers force eight pitch ABs on the first day of a four-game series.

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  32. uncle dave

    Jesus. Coomer’s call on that double sounded like he was trying to find something to say after walking in on his parents having sex.

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  45. Rizzo the Rat

    I don’t know why teams haven’t figured out that if you have to go on first move, it’s too risky.

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  88. uncle dave

    That’s like the fourth game in the last two weeks where we’ve left it on the table. What a flaming sack o’ shit.

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