On The Horizon: Cubs vs. Mariners series preview

The Cubs’ sweep of the Mariners in Seattle at the end of April/beginning of May consisted of a come-from-behind 6-5 win and an 11-0 blowout in which Jon Lester and two guys who aren’t on the team now (see if you can guess who before you click on the boxscore link!) combined for a one-hitter.

A repeat of these would be nice.

The Mariners are pretty good at scoring runs; in fact, with their 11-3 win over the Rangers Sunday, they have now scored more runs than the Cubs (672 to 664).

The Mariners are also pretty good at giving up runs, that is, if you are one of their opponents. They have allowed 771 runs — almost 100 more than they have scored — and only the Rockies and Orioles have given up more. Seattle has allowed 10 or more runs 16 times this year.

This would seem like a very good time for the Cubs offense to wake up, considering they are entering this series not having scored in their last 18 innings.

The last time the Mariners played in Wrigley Field was in 2016. The Cubs won two of three, including this famous game, started by Brian Matusz and won on a walkoff bunt by Jon Lester [VIDEO].

Some of the players on the Mariners roster will look familiar to you, as they either played for the Cubs or in the Cubs system: Anthony Bass, Ryan Court and BCB favorite Daniel Vogelbach.

Fun fact

The Mariners started this season 13-2. (Don’t ask me how.) Since then they are 45-78, which isn’t the worst record in baseball, but only because of the woeful Orioles and Tigers.

In that same time span the Cubs are 69-55, which is 23½ games better than the Mariners.

Pitching matchups

Monday: Kyle Hendricks, RHP (9-9, 3.47 ERA, 1.122 WHIP, 3.94 FIP) vs. Justus Sheffield, LHP (0-1, 7.94 ERA, 1.941 WHIP, 6.57 FIP)

Tuesday: Jon Lester, LHP (11-9, 4.36 ERA, 1.441 WHIP, 4.31 FIP) vs. Felix Hernandez, LHP (1-4, 6.02 ERA, 1.419 WHIP, 5.75 FIP)

Times & TV channels

Monday: 1:20 p.m. CT, WGN

Tuesday: 7:05 p.m. CT, NBC Sports Chicago

Prediction

Predicting sweeps is risky, but this is only a two-game series and the Mariners have lost six of their last 10. These are favorable pitching matchups and I believe the Cubs will take both of these games.

Up next

The Cubs have a rare Wednesday off day, then head to Milwaukee to take on the Brewers in a four-game series beginning Thursday evening.