Today at 1:35 p.m. ET and 7:35 p.m. ET the Pirates (86-56) and Cubs (82-60) will face off in a critical doubleheader that could go a long way toward deciding home-field advantage in the NL Wild Card Game, or even the National League Central division title. Fans can live stream the games online by clicking this link. Pirates fans can listen to the action on KDKA-FM 93.7, while Cubs fans may do the same on WGN 720.
In Game 1, the Cubs will send Jason Hammel (8-6, 3.59 ERA) to the mound against Pirates ace Gerrit Cole (16-8, 2.54 ERA). Pittsburgh has the upper hand in the wild card race with a four-game advantage over Chicago, but this four-game set could potentially erase that gap altogether. In addition, the Pirates have drawn within 2.5 games of the Cardinals for the NL Central crown, making this an even more important series.
The Cubs have a young roster that's mostly inexperienced with such pressure-packed Fall baseball. One man who isn't fazed, however, is left-hander Jon Lester. He is a veteran of two World Series title runs with the Red Sox, and was signed by the Cubs to a huge contract partially because of this potential scenario.
"Not to take anything away from the rest of the season, you're getting down to nut-crunching time," Lester said this weekend. Lester (9-10, 3.50 ERA) will face J.A. Happ (9-7, 3.87 ERA) in the second part of the twin bill.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon has his club focusing on one game at a time.
"Four one-game winning streaks would be great," he said. "If you start getting caught up in that big thing, it could really mess your head up. You just play that game and move on."
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