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Starting this Saturday, the Chicago Cubs will take on the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series after the N.L. East-winning club defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers late last night.
These two teams met up seven games during the regular season. All of which were claimed by the Cubs with four coming at Wrigley Field and another three at Citi Field.
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Despite the Cubs claiming the regular season series, these clubs are two different machines that added a few pieces to their postseason puzzle since their last meeting.
New York went out and landed outfielder Yoenis Cespedes from the Detroit Tigers – a former team of both Curtis Granderson and Austin Jackson who have found new homes with both clubs involved in this upcoming series.
Speaking of two players who have something in common with one specific team, these two have a lot in common. One would be that they’ll be without key infielders in Ruben Tejada for the Mets and Addison Russell for the Cubs.
Tejada, as we all know, was taken out by veteran infielder Chase Utley on an attempted double-play that resulted in the 25-year-old suffering a fractured right fibula. The replay of the incident was definitely cringe-worthy and Mets fans didn’t hold back on Utley this past Wednesday.
And then you have Russell.
Russell drilled a pitch to left field during Monday’s air parade against the St. Louis Cardinals and nearly added to Chicago’s list of lengthy home runs on the evening.
Instead, the ball bounced off the ivy-covered wall and stayed in play. Russell kicked it into second gear and made his way around second, stretching the hit to a triple.
He was safe, but we could all tell something wasn’t right as soon as he made it to his feet. Maddon soon pulled him and gave Javier Baez the nod to take over at the position.
Maddon spoke to the media yesterday, saying that Russell will not be available during the NLCS and is hopeful that he’ll be able to return if the Chicago Cubs reach the World Series.
The 61-year-old skipper also added that Starlin Castro will remain as the team’s second baseman. Which is fine with us considering how well Castro has been playing since making the move.
Here’s some more news from around the league:
‘Chicago Cubs: Could Zack Greinke be a target this offseason?‘ – Cubbies Crib
‘Chicago Cubs: Christopher Lloyd wants in on World Series‘ – Cubbies Crib
‘Chicago Cubs: Addison Russell will NOT be available for NLCS‘ – Cubbies Crib
‘KC Royals: Five reasons the Royals will defeat the Blue Jays‘ – Kings of Kauffman