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Mets go for sweep over Cubs on Wednesday
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 10/21/2015  at  2:46:00 PM
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NEW YORK METS (96-74)

at CHICAGO CUBS (101-69)

First pitch: Tuesday, 8:05 p.m. ET
NL Championship Series – Game 4
Line: New York +105, Chicago -115, Total: 9

The Cubs will be looking to avoid a sweep when they host the Mets in Game 4 of the NL Championship Series on Wednesday.

The Mets came away with a 5-2 victory in Chicago in Game 3 and this New York team is clicking on all cylinders right now. The starting pitching has been first class for the Mets over the past week, as New York has allowed two or less runs in four straight contests. The Cubs will need to find a way to produce at the plate or they will be eliminated way earlier in this series than they had hoped. The starters in this elimination game are going to be LHP Steven Matz (4-1, 2.66 ERA, 38 K) for the Mets and RHP Jason Hammel (10-7, 3.78 ERA, 174 K) for the Cubs. New York is 15-4 against the money line after scoring and allowing five runs or less in its past four games this season. The team is also 24-13 against the money line after batting .225 or worse over a 10 game span on the year. Chicago, however, is 84-59 against the money line after batting .240 or worse over a 10 game span over the past two seasons. SS Ruben Tejada (Leg) is out for the season for New York and SS Addison Russell (Hamstring) likely won’t play the rest of this series for Chicago.

Steven Matz will toe the rubber on Wednesday and the Mets need him to turn in a good performance here. New York is trying to wrap this series up and Matz will need to be a bit better than he was in his postseason debut in order to do that. Matz pitched five innings against the Dodgers last round and gave up three earned runs on six hits. New York will be hoping that he can work a bit deeper into this contest. He’ll be facing a young Cubs lineup that is barely even more experienced than he is. Offensively, 2B Daniel Murphy (.364, 6 HR, 9 RBI in playoffs) continues to put on a show for the Mets in this postseason. Murphy has homered in five straight games for New York and has multi-hit performances in three of the past four contests. He is in an absolute zone and it’s difficult to imagine that will change on Wednesday. OF Yoenis Cespedes (.273, 2 HR, 7 RBI in playoffs) is a guy to watch in this game as well. He was 3-for-5 with two RBI in Game 3 and has now driven in a run in two straight contests.

The Cubs decided that Hammel was the best option to start Game 4 after flirting with the idea of pitching Jon Lester on short rest. Hammel did not look great in his only other appearance in the playoffs, allowing two earned runs and a homer on three hits in three innings of work against the Cardinals last series. He was, however, extremely effective in his only start against the Mets this season. While the lineup was completely different at the time, Hammel threw eight innings of one-run ball and will be hoping to put in a performance like that one on Wednesday. If the Cubs are going to win, though, then the lineup must be better in the box. OF Kyle Schwarber (.375, 5 HR, 7 RBI in playoffs) has been one of the only stars that has really come through for this team. 1B Anthony Rizzo (.179, 2 HR, 2 RBI) and 3B Kris Bryant (.161, 1 HR, 3 RBI) must be a lot better in Game 4 or this team will likely be eliminated without putting up much of a fight.


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