NLDS Preview: Cubs vs. Cardinals Part Two

Sep 26, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher

(54) throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kane-USA TODAY Sports

Starter #2

Cardinals: Jaime Garcia, is a really good pitcher. He had a really good season, despite the injuries. He finished the year with a 2.45 ERA and a home ERA of 1.70, this is definitely why he gets game two. I am really glad that he is starting game two, as it shows that John Mozeliak and Mike Matheny are going for jugular in game two. It also shows the team’s respect of Jake Arietta and knowledge of Jaime’s 3.45 road ERA. Oddly enough, Jaime did not pitch a single game against the Cubs with his two DL trips keeping him out of the Cardinals’ and Cubs’ regular season match-ups. 

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Cubs: Kyle Hendricks – Kyle Hendricks has had a really good year. He sports a slightly high ERA of 3.95, but like his counterpart Lester, his FIP is much lower at 3.36. Hendricks is your classic ground ball pitcher who will probably lull you to sleep with his 89 MPH fastball, but get you to run it into the ground. For more on Hendricks, check out Fangraphs’ Dave Cameron’s post on why he’s the Cubs’ #3 starter.

Advantage: Cardinals. When I first started this post, I assumed Lance Lynn was getting game two, now that Jaime and his 1.70 home ERA are getting the start. The Cubs, do own a .238 batting average against left handed pitchers this season and lower numbers across the board, though it’s not much lower than their numbers against right handers in a much smaller sample size. I am not sure, whether or not this is due to the much smaller sample size. We shall see on Saturday.