Mets vs Cubs Series Preview 4/20-4/22

Hey all – Steve here. The Mets haven’t had a postponement in 3 whole days! Time to celebrate! Look at what happens when the team plays games when they are supposed to – 5 wins in 6 games. I still absolutely hate the runner on 2nd base rule, but 2 of the 5 wins came with that rule in effect but I will absolutely take it!

The pitching has been lights out. The starters have been particularly good and the Mets hope to see that trend continues. A strong rotation can only help make the bullpen stronger. Cookie Carrasco? He’s nearing his Mets debut. Thor? He’s making great progress and looks to be on track for the same June return we’ve been hearing all along. Let’s get to Mets-Cubs.

Mets (7-4) at Cubs (6-9)

Game 1

Taijuan Walker (0-0, 2.61 ERA) vs Jake Arrieta (2-1, 3.18 ERA)

Taijuan Walker takes the bump for Game 1 of the series and will be opposed by Jake Arrieta. Walker has been great so far and his ERA shows that – he’s just being overshadowed by two other guys in the rotations with sub-1.00. Arrieta has pitched well through his first 3 starts and he pitched well against the Mets last yr as he went 2-0 with a 2.19 ERA in 2 starts against New York. The lineups are already posted, so here is how tonight’s lineups have faired thus far in 2021:

Game 2

David Peterson (1-1, 6.30 ERA) vs Zach Davies (1-2, 10.32 ERA)

Peterson pitched tremendously his last time out against the Phillies and due to postponements, he hasn’t pitched since. He will go to the mound tomorrow in game 2 against a struggling Zach Davies. It’ll be an interesting game as nobody in the Cubs lineup has ever faced Peterson because of 2020 being a same-time-zone season due to COVID-19. The only guys on the Mets that have faced Davies more than 10 times are Conforto (2-10 0 HR 0 RBI) and Albert Almora (3-12 0 HR 1 RBI). It’ll be an important one for the Cubs based on who is starting for the Mets in game 3 of the series on Thursday.

Game 3

Jacob deGrom (1-1, 0.45 ERA) vs Trevor Williams (2-1, 5.02 ERA)

The Mets finally got deGrom a win and the hope is that trend continues and the Mets must win his starts in order to have the successful season we all want. There isn’t much more to say about him – he is degrominant! Trevor Williams has struggled in the early going as has most of the Cubs roster. Let’s compound that by saying he owns a 5.93 ERA in 10 career games at Wrigley Field. Here are a few hitters against the probable starters for the finale:

Cubs against deGrom:

Javier Baez – 14 AB, .214 0 HR 0 RBI

Kris Bryant – 15 AB, .333 1 HR 1 RBI

Jason Heyward – 18 AB, .333 0 HR 0 RBI

Joc Pederson – 17 AB, .294 0 HR 0 RBI

Anthony Rizzo – 14 AB, .500 0 HR 0 RBI

Mets against Williams:

Pete Alonso – 5 AB, .200 0 HR 1 RBI

Michael Conforto – 11 AB, .364 1 HR 1 RBI

J.D. Davis – 5 AB, .600 1 HR 3 RBI

Jeff McNeil – 7 AB, .286 0 HR 0 RBI

Predictions for the series