On The Horizon: Cubs vs. Mets series preview

The weather forecast for the next three days in Chicago is much colder and wetter than normal for late April. It might be a bit better by Thursday, but the first two games of this series will be played in less-than-optimal conditions.

The Mets are used to game postponements this year; hopefully we won’t have any this week. For more on that and the team, here’s Chris McShane, managing editor of our SB Nation Mets site Amazin’ Avenue:

The Mets have had almost as many days without games as they’ve had with them since the season got underway. But when they have played, they’ve been successful, even though their lineup really hasn’t gotten off the ground yet. It’s hard to blame the hitters for that given the disjointed nature of the Mets’ season so far, with COVID, rain, and snow all having postponed at least one of their games. In that sense, any snow that might fall in Chicago will be a familiar sight to them.

As for their success, the starting rotation has been fantastic. In addition to Jacob deGrom looking like he’s somehow even better than he was in the past, Marcus Stroman and Taijuan Walker have both looked very good in the early going. The Cubs will see deGrom in the series finale, but before that, they’ll see Walker, whose velocity is up and whose split-change is a rarely used but very good weapon, and David Peterson, who had a rocky first start but struck out 10 and allowed just one run in six innings in his second start.

Zooming out from this series a bit, I’d still pick the Mets to win the division, but the Braves don’t figure to be pushovers. And hey, whatever happened to those Kris Bryant to the Mets trade rumors?

Fun fact

These teams didn’t face each other in 2020. In 2018-19 the Cubs were 11-3 against the Mets. Oddly, that included just a 4-3 record at Wrigley Field and a 7-0 record at Citi Field. Still, since 2015 the Cubs are 13-4 against the Mets at Wrigley.

Pitching matchups

Tuesday: Jake Arrieta, RHP (2-1, 3.18 ERA, 1.294 WHIP, 3.33 FIP) vs. Taijuan Walker, RHP (0-0, 2.61 ERA, 0.750 WHIP, 3.99 FIP)

Wednesday: Zach Davies, RHP (1-2, 10.32 ERA, 2.206 WHIP, 5.27 FIP) vs. David Peterson, LHP (1-1, 6.30 ERA, 1.200 WHIP, 4.96 FIP)

Thursday: Trevor Williams, RHP (2-1, 5.02 ERA, 1.605 WHIP, 3.22 FIP) vs. Jacob deGrom, RHP (1-1, 0.45 ERA, 0.700 WHIP, 1.41 FIP)

Times & TV channels

Tuesday: 6:40 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network, ESPN (no blackouts)

Wednesday: 6:40 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network

Thursday: 6:40 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network

Prediction

I tried picking the Cubs to win two of three in most series early this year, that didn’t work. I picked them to get swept in a bit of reverse psychology, that didn’t work either.

Going back to “two of three,” what the heck, can’t hurt, right?

Up next

The Cubs host the Brewers, again, in a three-game series beginning Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field.