The Chicago Cubs wrap up their three-game series with the New York Mets in Queens on Wednesday night. The Cubs are playing out the string for the rest of 2022 and hope to avoid a last-place finish in the NL Central. As for the Mets, they are in a dog fight with the Atlanta Braves for the NL East Division as well as the coveted second seed for the NL Playoffs, which would give them a first round bye in the new format. The pitching matchup for Wednesday's finale will be left-hander Drew Smyly (6-8, 3.57) of the Cubs likely taking on Mets lefty David Peterson (7-4, 3.47). First pitch is scheduled for 7:10pm EST.
The Cubs are in the midst of a major overhaul as they look to add major pieces to both their everyday lineup and their pitching rotation this offseason. It has now been six seasons since the Cubs magical World Series run of 2016 and the team has been slowly chipping away all the key pieces from their championship glory years. In the midst of their rebuild, the Cubs find themselves 24 games out of first place in the NL Central heading into Tuesday night and with what will certainly be a top-six pick in next season's MLB Amateur Draft. On Monday night, the Cubs upended the Mets for just their third win in ten games. On Tuesday night, the Cubs continued to play their role as spoilers brilliantly, upsetting Jacob deGrom and the Mets 4-1. Ian Happ and David Bote both homered and the Cubs got six shutout innings from Adrian Sampson to pick up the win.
Javier Assad earns his first career win! ?? pic.twitter.com/u1LTzc4mnl
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 13, 2022
The Cubs offense has lacked punch in recent weeks. Monday night's five-run 'outburst' was just the second time in the last ten games that the team has scored five runs or more. The Cubs are hitting a respectable .248 in that stretch but have lacked timely hitting, averaging just three runs per game over that span. On the mound on Tuesday night will be left-hander Drew Smyly. Smyly has five quality starts this season among his 20 starts. In his last five starts, Smyly has a solid 3.25 ERA despite just a 1-2 record. Smyly has made one start against the Mets this season going 4.1 innings and allowing five hits and one earned run.