Both these teams come into today's game having lost six of their last 10.
Which one do you think is more likely to stop that sort of thing over the weekend? (Hint: it's not the Phillies.)
The recent history of these teams would not tell you that, though. The Cubs have won the season series from the Phillies just once since 2000 -- and that was in 2010, a season in which the Cubs lost 87 games and the Phillies won 97. Since 1998 the Phillies are 74-48 against the Cubs, 39-24 at Wrigley Field. The .393 winning percentage in that span is the Cubs' worst against any National League team.
Since 2011 the Phillies are 10-4 at Wrigley.
Time to stop all that, I'd think.
Here are today's particulars.
Cubs lineup:
Fowler CF, Zobrist 2B, Bryant 1B, Soler LF, Szczur RF, Russell SS, Baez 3B, Ross C, Lester P
Here is today's #Cubs lineup for the homestand opener.
— #VoteCubs (@Cubs) May 27, 2016
Game preview: https://t.co/6wQFTF3dc6 #LetsGo pic.twitter.com/nI28IYTyar
Anthony Rizzo gets his first day off this year, and except for Jon Lester, it's an all-RH lineup against the Phillies lefty Adam Morgan.
Phillies lineup:
Herrera CF, Galvis SS, Franco 3B, Joseph 1B, Ruiz C, Hernandez 2B, Goeddel LF, Morgan P, Bourjos RF
Jon Lester
vs
Adam Morgan
Jon Lester's last start was pretty bad, but I'm going to assume it was an aberration and he'll get back on track against the Phillies. He faced them once last year: July 24 at Wrigley Field, and threw seven good innings, allowing two runs, with no walks and six strikeouts. An outing like that should be enough to win this game.
Adam Morgan entered the Phillies rotation when Charlie Morton went on the disabled list. He's made five starts. Two of them were decent, two mediocre and one bad. It should be noted that his two "decent" starts were against the Braves' futile offense. Morgan has one career start against the Cubs, last September 11 in Philadelphia. The Cubs hit him pretty hard. I think they'll do so again.
Today's game is on CSN Chicago.
Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
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The 2016 Game Thread procedure will be the same as the one used at the end of 2015. Here's how it works.
You'll find the game preview posted separately on the front page, two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).
At the same time, a StoryStream™ containing the preview will also post on the front page. The First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads will be published in that stream, as well as the recap. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post, and at the time I write the recap I will rename the stream "Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads" so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.
You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread, all the overflow threads and recap in the box marked "Chicago Cubs Game Threads" at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). They will also appear in the game's StoryStream™ as noted above.
The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at one hour, two hours and 2:45 after the scheduled game time.
Discuss amongst yourselves.