Two of the hottest teams in the National League this season will put their current three-game series to a close this Sunday, with the Chicago Cubs and the San Francisco Giants each looking to come out victorious from the weekend’s rubber match.
Will the Cubs’ bats catch fire once more, or will the Giants sustain their great form of late? Let’s find out more about this elite showdown below. And for a couple of postseason duels happening elsewhere in the sporting world that are also worth placing some stakes at, check out our previews for Warriors vs. Thunder (NBA) and Lightning vs. Penguins (NHL) right after this.
The Chicago Cubs could not have found a worse time to be in a slump. With the 5-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Saturday, the Cubs have lost their third game of a nine-game road swing, and they still have one last bout against the Bay Area hosts before taking on division rivals the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium for the final three contests of the road trip.
Jon Lester had his worst start of the season on Saturday, having allowed five runs, six hits and three walks in Saturday’s loss that had him pulled out in less than three innings of work.
Perhaps Sunday’s starter in Kyle Hendricks (2-3, 3.51 ERA) could have a better outing. He has a steady 2.74 ERA over his last six starts, but does sport a rather dismal 5.19 ERA on the road this season. Hendricks also hasn’t gone through seven innings of work as a starter this campaign just yet, so the Cubs’ offense must come alive once more for some much-needed run support.
Despite leading the majors with a mind-numbing plus-111 win differential, Chicago’s offense has cooled down significantly, particularly standout first baseman Anthony Rizzo (1-of-19 batting on the current road trip). It’s now up to Ben Zobrist to pick his teammates’ spirits back up, as he has an eight-game hit streak going and is actually 5-for-6 lifetime against Bumgarner.
Plus, the Cubs have still won six of their last nine road contests overall, and remain -1,400 runaway favorites to win the NL Central this season. They certainly cannot afford to lose this series against San Francisco on Sunday, though, if they don’t want to give the Cards the upper hand before the start of next week’s critical three-game showdown beginning Monday.
Betting on the San Francisco Giants (26-19)
After the 8-1 drubbing dealt by the Cubs on Friday, the San Francisco Giants answered back with a 5-3 victory of their own on Saturday to even their current three-game set at AT&T Park at two games apiece.
Matt Cain earned his first win in 16 starts dating back to July of last year that afternoon, and even pitched-in with a two-run double on offense to have the Giants secure their ninth win over their last 10 contests.
Cain’s superb performance also sets the stage nicely for San Francisco ace Madison Bumgarner (5-2, 2.45 ERA). MadBum is looking for his fifth-straight winning decision this Sunday night, and has allowed two or fewer runs in each of his last six starts. That stretch includes his stellar complete-game, one-run outing against San Diego from just this past Tuesday, which also saw him throw a season-high 11 strikeouts.
Bumgarner needs to put on another fantastic showing indeed, as key hitters Hunter Pence and Angel Pagan are likely to be scratched-off again for Sunday’s contest with both of them dealing with respective hamstring issues. It’s now up to Brandon Belt to provide the spark on offense, as he has batted a solid 3-for-5 lifetime against Chicago’s Hendricks, and with a triple and a homer at that as well.
Lastly, the Giants have won five of their last seven home games against the Cubs, and that’s not good news for the Chicago faithful. This is an even year after all, and the Giants are now decently priced at +1,200 in winning the World Series this season.
Writer’s Prediction
Bumgarner pitches another gem as the Giants (-120) win, 4-1.
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