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Well, here we are: the week from baseball heaven and hell.

On the one hand, I am legitimately stoked to watch so much Cubs baseball over the next three days. How often do you get to watch this much Cubs baseball in such a short period of time? On the other hand, the Cubs are coming off a three-game losing streak to the Brewers, are heading into the gauntlet without Tyler Chatwood or Jose Quintana, and are about to face some weird 7.0-inning contests that will definitely be very unusual and probably be very frustrating.

I know thiscan be a very good week for the Cubs if things break their way before the off-day on Thursday, but it could also be all the way stressful. I guess thats the nature of the beast. Into the abyss we go!

The Chicago Cubs (13-6)are still seven games over .500, but that sure was one bad weekend. The Cubs spoiled a chance to really knock the Brewers down, and now have a very tough week ahead of them against another division rival. Theyre riding a three-game losing streak, while missing two of their starting pitchers. None of this is ideal.

The St. Louis Cardinals (4-4)kicked their season back into gear with two wins on Saturday (thanks for nothing, White Sox), before losing the series finale on Sunday. With just eight games under their belt its tough to say where exactly they are in the standings, but a bunch of losses against the Cubs this week sure wouldnt help.

Monday, August 17th at 4:15 CT on MARQ, 670 The Score Monday, August 17th at TBD on MARQ, 670 The Score Tuesday, August 18th at 7:15 CT on MARQ, FS1, 670 The Score Wednesday, August 19th at 1:20 on MARQ, 670 The Score Wednesday, August 19th at TBD on MARQ, 670 The Score

Game 1 (Monday): Kyle Hendricks (R) v. Kwang Hyun Kim (L)Game 2 (Monday): TBD v. TBDGame 3 (Tuesday): Yu Darvish (R) v. Daniel Ponce De Leon (R)Game 4 (Wednesday): Alec Mills (R) v. Jack Flaherty (R)Game 5 (Wednesday): TBD v. TBD

Cubs TBD Options: Adbert Alzolay, Tyson Miller, Justin Steele, Colin Rea? (Neither Jose Quintana nor Tyler Chatwood are going to be available).

C Willson Contreras 1B Anthony Rizzo 2B Jason Kipnis/Nico Hoerner 3B Kris Bryant SS Javy Baez LF Kyle Schwarber CF Ian Happ RF Jason Heyward? DH Victor Caratini

Unavailable:Jose Quintana, Brad Wieck, James Norwood, Daniel Descalso, Tyler Chatwood,

C Matt Wieters 1B Paul Goldschmidt 2B Kolten Wong 3B Matt Carpenter SS Tommy Edman LF Tyler ONeil CF Harrison Bader RF Dexter Fowler DH Not clear with only 8 games and about 300 people missing.

Unavailable: Austin Dean, Lane Thomas, Ryan Helsley, Junior Fernadez, Rangel Ravelo, Yadier Molina, Edmundo Sosa, Paul DeJong, Kodi Whitley, Miles Mikolas

Keep An Eye Out For

Cubs Pitcher: Kyle Hendrickscan do the Cubs a HUGE favor by going all seven innings in todays opener, sparing the bullpen from throwing a single pitch. Hes gone at least that much in 2 of his 4 starts this season and is average about 6 and half innings for the year. The good news is that Hendricks is much better at Wrigley Field and has kept the Cardinals to a .248/.295/.395 slash line overall for his career (2.93 ERA). Again, with any luck, hell be the only pitcher we see in Game 1 today.

Cubs Player: Kris Bryanthas been riding the struggle bus, man. Overall, hes slashing .182/.286/.345 with a 9.5% walk rate (career low) and 28.6% strikeout rate (by FAR the highest since his rookie season). In yesterdays game, he went 0-4 with 2Ks and two weak infield pop outs. And since the postponed Cardinals series, hes gone 3-13 with three strikeouts. Statcast has his average exit velocity down, his barrel rate down, and his hard hit rate down. I really hope he snaps out of it soon, because, unfortunately, hes not the only Cubs star struggling offensively.

Cardinals Pitcher: The Cubs were not lucky enough to miss Jack Flaherty,whose only start this season (back before their hiatus) was a pretty darn good one: 7.0 IP, 6H, 2ER, 0BB, 6Ks. Flaherty has also been pretty split neutral for his career and has generally been pretty good against the Cubs. With that said, I did notice this fairly extreme oddity:

Small samples? Shrug. In any case, Flaherty hasnt pitched competitively since July 24th. You have to imagine the Cubs hitters should have the advantage right?

Cardinals Player:I like to check in on our old friend Dexter Fowlerevery now and then, and as of his small 6 game sample, so far so good: .318/.348/.455 (123 wRC+). Its really too early to look into any of these hitters. Lets just hope theyre even more behind than the pitchers.

See the rest here:
The Week from Baseball Heaven and Hell: Cardinals at Cubs (Five Games), August 17-19, 2020 - bleachernation.com