I love this game, obviously. Hendricks beat the Giants in Chicago earlier this season, so we can start with the revenge thing. Hendricks beat them badly but the Giants individually HAVE had reasonable success against him, and over his last seven starts Hendricks' ERA is 6.29 and his WHIP is 1.66 - his road spltis on the entire season aren't much better, so, I expect the Giants to score. Maybe not as much as their scoring Sunday against the Cardinals (thanks for that, we're on the over) but they're hitting and that's a better position to be in than not hitting and HOPING they will. The Cubs took extra frames to beat the Reds and consequently used six relief pitchers Sunday, and of course the Cubs have the long flight to San Francisco while the Giants will be sleeping in their own beds Sunday. And, because the Giants have such a big lead it's not likely they'll be using the "A" team out of the pen. Saurez is someone the Cubs have exactly zero at at bats against, he's a big-time ground ball pitcher, and has allowed exactly one run in each of his last three starts. He's allowed three jacks in his last seven outings, period. His WHIP at home is 0.96 and 1.13 in his last seven starts. The Giants have every advantage here - Pence rested on Sunday, Heyward hasn't been 100% for the Cubs, and Bryant has been on the DL so even if he does come back there could be a timing issue. Either scenario that plays out, the odds of Chicago winning this game are just not that good.

07/08/2018 3:43 PM