The Chicago Cubs look to complete the three-game sweep of National League Central rival Milwaukee on Sunday. Chicago has won the first two games of the series and has vaulted back into first place in the division.
Slowly Fading
The Brewers are 57-55 this season after suffering a loss Saturday against Chicago 4-1 where they were able to get eight hits but just the one run. The loss keeps them in third place in the NL Central, now three games back from the Cubs. The NL Central has been tight all year and most likely will be all the way up to the playoffs. The top three teams, the Cubs, Cardinals, and Brewers all have rosters capable of winning the division, but head-to-head games like this are vital.
Scheduled to get the start for the Brewers in game three of this series is Adrian Houser. Houser was just recently added back to the rotation and had a solid outing in his last start, giving up just one run over five innings in a no-decision. The 26-year-old is an even 4-4 this season with a 3.99 ERA and 60 strikeouts. Milwaukee currently has a team ERA of 4.66.
It comes as no surprise the Milwaukee’s batting leader, once again, is 2018 NL MVP Christian Yelich. Yelich has 36 home runs already this season, 10 ahead of the Cubs’ leader, Javier Baez. Yelich also leads the team with a .328 batting average and 81 runs batted in. The Cubs have done well minimizing the MVP in this series so far, and the Brewers will look to get him rolling in this one to try to avoid the sweep.
Back On Top
The Chicago Cubs are 59-51 and currently sit at the top of the tight NL Central battle, just a half-game up on the St. Louis Cardinals, who have been hot as of late. After losing a series to the Cardinals last week, Chicago needed to pick up wins in this division matchup, and so far, they have. They will look to finish the series strong at Wrigley and stay in the top spot in the division.
Yu Darvish will be getting the start for the Cubs in this one. Darvish has had perhaps his two best looking starts with Chicago in his last two outings. Despite taking the loss in his last game against St. Louis, he looked as good as he has all year, allowing just two runs over six innings and hitting the highest velocity on a fastball he has hit since being hurt all of last year. This is a good sign moving forward for the Cubs, as they will look to give Darvish some run support and give him a chance to pick up a win in this one. Darvish is 3-5 this season with a 4.46 ERA and 141 strikeouts.
While Baez leads the team in just about everything on offense, Chicago has a solid group of guys at the top who all have been producing this season. The problem for the Cubs is it seems to be an all-or-nothing effort, where they either score 10 runs or put up just one hit like they did recently in St. Louis. Baez currently has 26 home runs, a .289 batting average, and 73 runs batted in.
What To Expect
The Cubs have gotten back on track in this series, and Darvish has been solid lately. I like the Cubs to finish the series strong and take a win in this one.
