First pitch: Tuesday, 7:05 p.m. ET
Line: New York +140, Chicago -150, Total: N/A

The Cubs will be looking to win their fifth game in six nights when they host the Mets on Tuesday.

The Mets and Cubs played the first game of this series on Monday and Chicago ended up winning that game 5-1. The Mets stranded seven runners in the game and will need to do a better job of coming up with timely hits moving forward. Chicago is an excellent pitching team and New York needs to make the most of its chances in this series. The Cubs, meanwhile, are playing some good baseball at the moment. They have won four of their past five games and have allowed one or less earned runs in three of those contests. They should be feeling good about their chances of shutting down New York on Tuesday as well. RHP Jake Arrieta (12-4, 2.68 ERA, 121 K) is going to be on the mound and that is bad news for the Mets, but it’s not all good for Chicago. The team will be facing New York’s RHP Noah Syndergaard (9-4, 2.56 ERA, 128 K) and he is also one of the better pitchers in baseball. One trend worth pointing out when looking at this game is that the Cubs are 63-28 against the money line as a favorite of -125 to -175 over the past two seasons.

The Mets will be hoping to even up this three-game series with the Cubs on Tuesday and Noah Syndergaard will be on the mound for New York. In Syndergaard’s last trip to the mound, he allowed three earned runs in just 4.2 innings of work in a Jul. 8 meeting with Washington. He did, however, face this Cubs team in the game before and allowed just one earned run in seven innings. He struck out eight batters in that game and didn’t walk one, so he is certainly capable of pitching a gem on Tuesday. Syndergaard will just need to make sure he has his control in check because he can get in trouble when he is walking too many batters. Offensively, two guys to watch out for in this game are OFs Yoenis Cespedes (.296, 21 HR, 52 RBI) and Curtis Granderson (.240, 16 HR, 28 RBI). The two outfielders are a combined 12-for-39 with four homers and 12 RBI against Arrieta in their careers. Most of that damage has come from Granderson, but the Mets will need something from each guy in this one. Arrieta is one of the best pitchers in the game right now and New York must find a way to get to him.

The Cubs will be looking to win this series against the Mets on Tuesday and Jake Arrieta is on the mound for the team. The ace has struggled mightily recently, allowing 15 earned runs over his past three starts. He also has not been able to work deep into those games, pitching just 16.1 innings over the three starts. Chicago desperately needs him to figure things out on Tuesday, as the team needs him to pitch the way he usually does moving forward. If he does not regain his form then a World Series victory is nothing but a pipedream for this high-powered group. Offensively, OF Jason Heyward (.236, 4 HR, 28 RBI) is a guy that could come up big for the Cubs in this one. Heyward is 3-for-6 with a double and a triple in his career against Syndergaard and Chicago could certainly use something from him in this game. He has been disappointing all season, but a big second half of the year would certainly help please the Cubs faithful.