On The Horizon: Cubs vs. Brewers series preview

Best stat from the weekend of washout in Washington:

Fortunately, the weather forecast for Chicago this week is magnificent — clear skies, pleasant temperatures, light winds. The Cubs will likely think they’ve landed on another planet after being on Waterworld all weekend.

No question, the Brewers are a hot team right now. They’ve won nine of their last 11, although the last three were a sweep of a Giants ballclub that seems to have cashed things in for the 2018 season.

The Cubs, despite the struggles at the end of their road trip (on which they went 5-5), still lead the N.L. Central by two games, three ahead of the Brewers in the loss column.

Thus, winning at least two of three here seems really important.

Fun fact

The Brewers are just 28-32 vs. teams in the N.L. Central, including 6-10 vs. the Cubs. The Cubs are 34-29 against teams in the N.L. Central.

Pitching matchups

Monday: Jon Lester, LHP (15-5, 3.53 ERA, 1.323 WHIP, 4.63 FIP) vs. Wade Miley, LHP (3-2, 2.12 ERA, 1.178 WHIP, 3.56 FIP)

Tuesday: Jose Quintana, LHP (12-9, 4.14 ERA, 1.341 WHIP, 4.52 FIP) vs. Jhoulys Chacin, RHP (14-6, 3.59 ERA, 1.220 WHIP, 3.95 FIP)

Wednesday: Kyle Hendricks, RHP (11-10, 3.71 ERA, 1.208 WHIP, 3.93 FIP) vs. Chase Anderson, RHP (9-7, 3.95 ERA, 1.164 WHIP, 5.26 FIP)

Times & TV channels

Monday: 7:05 p.m., NBC Sports Chicago

Tuesday: 7:05 p.m., WGN, MLB Network (outside Chicago and Milwaukee markets)

Wednesday: 7:05 p.m., ABC7 Chicago, ESPN (no blackouts)

Prediction

The Cubs have won five of the six games played between these two teams at Wrigley Field so far this year, and the Brewers are not as good on the road as they are at Miller Park. The Cubs are also playing better at home than on the road (they currently have the best home record in the National League). After the rainout in Washington Sunday, the Cubs pushed Mike Montgomery back and will keep the rotation they had originally scheduled for this series, as shown above.

The Cubs will do what they need to and win two of three in this series.

Up next

The Cubs were supposed to have Thursday off, but as of now they are scheduled to fly to Washington to make up Sunday’s rainout that afternoon. Then they’ll quickly return to Chicago to host the Cincinnati Reds in a three-game series beginning Friday afternoon.