The Chicago Cubs will play the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of their series at Citizens Bank Park on Friday night.
The Chicago Cubs are 35-57 this season and have lost nine of their last ten games. Chicago is coming off of a series loss against the Mets, where they lost three out of the four games played in the series. The Chicago pitching staff has a 4.58 ERA, a 1.35 WHIP, and a .251 opponent batting average this season. The Cubs offense has scored 386 runs with a .244 batting average and a .319 on base percentage. Patrick Wisdom is batting .220 with 17 home runs and 46 RBI’s for the Cubs this season. The projected starter for Chicago is Justin Steele, who is 3-6 with a 4.15 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP over 82.1 innings pitched this season.
The Philadelphia Phillies are 49-43 this season and have won three games in a row. Philadelphia is coming off of a series win against Miami, where they won all three games played in the series. The Philadelphia pitching staff has a 3.69 ERA, a 1.21 WHIP, and a .236 opponent batting average. The Phillies offense has scored 431 runs with a .246 batting average and a .311 on base percentage this year. Kyle Schwarber is batting .208 with 29 home runs and 58 RBI’s for the Phillies this season. The projected starter for Philadelphia is Kyle Gibson, who is 5-3 with a 4.35 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP over 97.1 innings pitched this season.