On The Horizon: Cubs vs. Padres series preview

Two pitchers who were on the 2016 Cubs, Clayton Richard and Trevor Cahill, will not pitch in this series. Richard’s turn came up Saturday and Cahill is on the disabled list.

Apart from that I will guarantee you that the Padres will put a lineup on the field at least once in this series containing several names you have never heard of before.

But look! There’s ex-Cub Matt Szczur, who is getting semi-regular playing time since he was traded to the Padres (started 14 of 26 games). He’s not really hitting much better since the deal, though: .216/.326/.351 with one home run in 37 at-bats.

Perhaps this series will help what’s ailing the Cubs.

Fun fact

The Padres are scoring 3.4 runs per game and allowing 5.2 runs per game. No, that is not a misprint — they have already been outscored this year by 94 runs, and are on pace to have a run differential of almost -300. Only two teams in the last 25 years have had a -300 or worse run differential: the 1996 Tigers (-320), who lost 109 games, and the 2003 Tigers (-337), who lost 119.

You get the general idea here, I think.

Pitching matchups

Monday: Kyle Hendricks, RHP (4-2, 3.25 ERA, 1.158 WHIP, 4.19 FIP) vs. Jarred Cosart, RHP (0-1, 4.50 ERA, 1.750 WHIP, 4.26 FIP)

Tuesday: Eddie Butler, RHP (2-0, 1.93 ERA, 1.357 WHIP, 3.87 FIP) vs. Dinelson Lamet, RHP (1-0, 1.80 ERA, 1.000 WHIP, 3.61 FIP)

Wednesday: Jake Arrieta, RHP (5-4, 4.92 ERA, 1.359 WHIP, 4.00 FIP) vs. Luis Perdomo, RHP (0-2, 5.61 ERA, 1.477 WHIP, 3.75 FIP)

Times & TV channels

Monday: 3:40 p.m. CT, ABC7 Chicago

Tuesday: 9:10 p.m. CT, CSN Chicago Plus

Wednesday: 2:40 p.m. CT, WGN

Prediction

The Padres already have four losing streaks of four games or longer. They’ve been swept by the Braves, for heaven’s sake.

I haven’t been predicting sweeps this year, but I’m going to for this one. The Cubs should have the advantage in all the pitching matchups, and the Padres are probably the worst team in baseball.

Up next

The Cubs are off Thursday and then host the St. Louis Cardinals for a three-game series at Wrigley Field beginning Friday afternoon.