Cubs Battle Cardinals – Series Preview: April 18-20, 2016
If it feels early in the season for a big, intense, meaningful series that’s because it is. Anytime the Cubs play the Cardinals it’s meaningful. This series is more important because we know that St. Louis has done for years what the Cubs are now hoping to do themselves, build and sustain a perennial winner, capable of making it to, and winning, the World Series. Not to mention that the Cardinals also won the division last year and led the league with 100 wins. Plain and simple, the Cubs want what the Cardinals have and this series is their chance to start to take it from them.
Game Times & Broadcast Info
- Monday, April 18 at 7:09 PM CDT on WPWR, ESPN
- Tuesday, April 19 at 7:15 PM CDT on CSN, MLBN (out of market only)
- Wednesday, April 20 at 12:45 PM CDT on CSN, MLBN (out of market only)
Starting Pitchers
| Date | Team | Pitcher | Age | Throws | ERA | W/L | K/BB |
| 4/18/2016 | Cubs | John Lackey | 37 | R | 5.68 | 2-0 | 2.75 |
| Cardinals | Mike Leake | 28 | R | 6.97 | 0-1 | 1.75 | |
| 4/19/2016 | Cubs | Jason Hammel | 33 | R | 0.75 | 1-0 | 1.29 |
| Cardinals | Jaime Garcia | 29 | L | 2.40 | 1-0 | 4.75 | |
| 4/20/2016 | Cubs | Kyle Hendricks | 26 | R | 2.84 | 1-1 | 10.00 |
| Cardinals | Carlos Martinez | 24 | R | 3.46 | 2-0 | 2.75 |
What to watch for
- The Cubs and Cardinals played nineteen games in 2015. The Cubs were 8-11 overall and 3-7 on the road against St. Louis. Of course, we all know what happened in the playoffs, the Cubs won the series 3-1.
- It’s early in the season for a big rivalry series and this should be a good way to test the water for the Cubs. The Cubs come into the series with a 9-3 record compared to the Cardinals at 7-5. The Cardinals lead the league in runs scored with 85 and the Cubs are second at 71, so I’m expecting this to be an exciting and possibly high scoring series.
- This will be the first trip back to St. Louis for both Jason Heyward and John Lackey since leaving the Cardinals to sign with the Cubs in the 2015 off season. Lackey gets thrown right into the mix tonight as the starting pitcher in the series opener. It’ll be fun to watch John and Jason throughout the series.
