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Morning Marquee: Chicago Cubs, Blue Jays return home in 0-2 LCS hole
By David Miniel
Well, after a disappointing start to the National League Championship Series, the Chicago Cubs will return to Wrigley Field tomorrow evening in hopes of keeping themselves alive against the New York Mets.
Not only are the Cubs in a 0-2 LCS hole, the Toronto Blue Jays have found themselves in the same position as well. Despite these two clubs having some of the best odds to reach and or win the World Series, they’ll need to continue to fight.
More from Chicago Cubs News
- Make no mistake: the Cubs are very much about power hitters
- Cubs: It’s time to start thinking about potential September call-ups
- Cubs: P.J. Higgins deserves to be in the lineup on a daily basis
- Cubs might start to limit Justin Steele’s workload soon
- Cubs: Adrian Sampson is forcing his way into the conversation
Outfielder Jose Bautista and the Blue Jays will turn to Marcus Stroman who will take on former Cincinnati Reds ace, Johnny Cueto later on today on FS1.
Before this weekend, nobody expected either series to turn out the way they have. You had the Cubs launching 10 home runs in three games against the St. Louis Cardinals, then Bautista pulling off one of the gutsiest bat-flips in postseason history as his club sent the Texas Rangers home.
Still, there’s plenty of time to turn things around and hopefully, the Cubs will be the team to do it. It wouldn’t feel good watching the Mets celebrating an N.L. Pennant on your own home turf.
Last night, rookie third baseman Kris Bryant drove in Chicago’s only run of the ballgame and recorded their first hit off Noah Syndergaard in the very first inning.
He’s been known to hit well when the Cubs are playing at Wrigley Field, so if you’re going to select someone as a turning point in this series, it’s going to be Joe Maddon‘s soon-to-be Rookie of the Year.
While we sit and wait for these two NLCS participants to return to the field, we should know that there’s no reason to panic as of right now. It’s the postseason, comebacks happen and this team is fully capable of evening the odds over their first two home games this week.
New York will send southpaw Steven Matz to the mound on Wednesday for his second postseason start of his career. He was 4-0 with a 2.27 earned run average across six starts dating back to late June with the Cincinnati Reds in town.
It’s likely that Maddon will turn to Jason Hammel that same day with the bullpen on standby considering how quick the veteran was pulled from his previous outing.
Here’s more from around the league:
‘Cubbies Crib seeking new staff writers, Cubs fans‘ – Cubbies Crib
‘Chicago Cubs: Place the Game 1 blame where it belongs‘ – Cubbies Crib
‘League Championship Game sad reminder of what Athletics could have been‘ – Swingin’ A’s
‘Milwaukee Brewers Grades: Luis Sardinas‘ – Reviewing The Brew
‘New York Yankees News: Jeff Pentland out as hitting coach‘ – Yanks Go Yard