The Chicago Cubs and New York Mets are looking to make noise in the National League and send a pair of young pitchers to the mound in Queens on Wednesday that will play a big role in any potential playoff pushes.
Chicago Cubs (-115, 7) vs. New York Mets
For the Mets, Jose Butto gets the start and has been impressive to begin the season with a 2.86 ERA across four starts but his 4.11 fielding independent is an indicator that regression might be coming soon.
While Butto is getting 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings, he’s also issuing 4.9 walks per nine innings, including a combined eight walks allowed in his past two starts.
Backing up Butto is a Mets bullpen that entered Tuesday seventh among MLB teams with a 2.87 ERA while the Cubs are 22nd with a 4.62 ERA in the bullpen.
This puts pressure on Cubs starter Shots Imanaga to continue his historic start to his career in the United States, surrendering just three runs and three walks across five starts and 27 1/3 after pitching in the Japan Nippon Baseball League last season.
Imanaga might be experiencing regression sooner rather than later though with more tape coming out on him with there being little to none of him facing Major League Baseball hitters prior to the start of the season coupled with his fielding independent being 2.40 while his ERA is a microscopic 0.98.
Helping Imanaga’s cause is a Cubs lineup that entered Tuesday seventh in the league in scoring with nearly 5.1 runs per game and even with dealing g with injuries to Cody Bellinger and Seiya Suzuki, the team entered Tuesday 10th in the league in on-base percentage.
With the Mets entering Tuesday tied for eighth in home runs per game and having scored at least four in 12 of their past 19 games, both impact starting pitchers will struggle on Wednesday.
The Play: Cubs vs. Mets Over 7 Runs
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