Series Preview – Mets @ Cubs; May 17 – May 19, 2013

The Cubs are coming into this series playing their best baseball of 2013, and maybe of the last three years.  They have won two series in a row, both against contending teams in the Nationals, on the road, and the Rockies.  The Mets on the other hand are floundering as they are 3-7 in their last ten games and have fallen to 15-23 on the season.  Despite boasting one, if not the best young arm in baseball in Matt Harvey, the Mets pitching is what is doing them in.  They come into this series with a team ERA of 4.50, which is twenty-sixth best in all of baseball.  The Cubs hold the advantage here as they come into this series with a 3.72 team ERA which is good for twelfth in the Majors.  If you break it down even further you can see that the Mets bullpen has been a real issue in the early going, they have a bullpen ERA of 4.85, which is twenty-eighth in baseball, that won’t help you win a lot of games.  Slowly but surely the Cubs have improved offensively, they still aren’t a juggernaut but they are now twenty-third in baseball with 160 runs scored on the season.  The Mets aren’t much better as they have scored 165 runs which is good for twentieth in baseball.  The key to this series for the Cubs will be to get to the Mets pen as early as possible, not always an easy task but it would go a long way towards winning the series if they could exploit that weakness as they hold the starting pitching edge and should be able to limit the Mets offense.  To recap, get an early lead, Cubs starters shut down the Mets lineup, and exploit the Mets pen, ta-da!

Last Series:

The Cubs took two out of three from the Rockies at Wrigley earlier this week.

The Mets lost three out of four to the Cardinals in St. Louis.

Game Times and Broadcast Information:

• Friday, May 17, 2013 – 1:20 PM CST on WGN
• Saturday, May 18 2013 – 12:05 PM CST on WGN
• Sunday, May 19, 2013 – 1:20 PM CST on WGN

Starting Pitchers Scheduled:

Cubs:

Game One – Edwin Jackson (1-5, 6.02)
– Career vs. Mets (4 GS) (1-1, 4.50)

Game Two – Scott Feldman (3-3, 2.53)
– Career vs. Mets (1 GS) (0-1, 10.80)

Game Three – Travis Wood (4-2, 2.03)
– Career vs. Mets (3 GS) (2-0, 2.55)

Mets:

Game One – Matt Harvey (4-0, 1.44)
– Career vs. Cubs (first appearance)

Game Two – Jeremy Hefner (0-4, 4.61)
– Career vs. Cubs (1 appearance, 0 GS) (0-0, 0.00)

Game Three – Dillon Gee (2-5, 6.13)
– Career vs. Cubs (3 GS) (2-1, 4.26)

Bold Prediction:

As I mentioned, the Cubs are playing well and I think this series is extremely important as we move forward in 2013.  I know that sounds odd considering we have just reached the quarter pole of the season, but hear me out.  The Cubs have shown flashes of great baseball, followed by huge let downs, it seems they take one step forward and two steps back.  The first goal is to get back to .500 and winning this series goes a long way towards that in my opinion, if they lose this series we will see more of the same as they team hovers around 5-10 games under .500, which isn’t terrible for this group I guess.  But winning this series could put them on a really nice run, I think the Cubs will win this series, take two out of three at least, a sweep isn’t out of the question, but that all depends on what happens today as the Mets have a clear advantage on the mound.  If the Cubs win today, they sweep, if not, they take two out of three.  GO CUBS!

July 6 – 8; Cubs @ Mets – Series Preview

The Cubs close out the first half of the 2012 season in New York against the Mets this weekend.  This should be a pretty good series as both clubs are playing pretty good baseball right now.  The Cubs, in probably their best stretch of the season, have gone 7-3 in their last ten games, while the wild card leading (Tied with the Giants) Mets are 6-4 in their last ten.  The Cubs got the best of the Mets at the end of June in Chicago when they took two out of three.  However, I’m sure the Cubs haven’t forgotten the one game they lost in that series, by the score of 17-1.  The Mets are a well-rounded squad as they are 3rd in the NL in runs scored, and 7th in ERA.  Not too many ways to beat this team at the moment, if the Cubs want to be successful they have to get into the Mets bullpen which is the worst in the National League with a 5.07 ERA.  Full preview/breakdown after the jump.

June 25 – 27; vs. Mets – Series Preview

It seems like the most interesting news surrounding the Cubs is what is happening off the field than on, that’s probably true.  This is what most Cubs fans have waited for all year, the arrival of Anthony Rizzo.  Rizzo will not be a savior, and he might struggle, but if most Cubs fans are like me, just seeing Rizzo play is a welcome departure from watching a lifeless team go through the motions game after game.  Nothing is official yet, but it sounds like Anthony Rizzo could be in the Cubs lineup as early as Tuesday night.  The team he and the Cubs will be facing is one of the early season surprises, the New York Mets.  The Mets are currently five games over .500 and are in second place in the East, just 3.5 games behind the Nationals.  The Cubs will get a look at a big reason Monday night as they face a rejuvenated Johan Santana, but they will avoid knuckleball sensation R.A. Dickey.  The Cubs, per usual, are struggling, they can’t score runs, a big reason is a dreadful stretch with guys in scoring position (3-25 over the weekend in Arizona).  Maybe a Rizzo promotion will help in that department, stay tuned.  Full preview/breakdown after the jump.