The Los Angeles Dodgers have a chance to sweep the Chicago Cubs after winning both games of a doubleheader at Wrigley Field. The series finale is a national broadcast for ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.
With their two wins in one day, the Dodgers are now tied for the best record in baseball with the New York Yankees at 18-7 and hold a 1.5-game lead over the San Diego Padres in the National League West standings.
They also own an MLB-best +68 run differential, 19 runs ahead of the Yankees, and 25 ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers, who are second in the NL.
L.A. is on a five-game winning stream and have gone 7-3 in their last 10 games as well.
The Cubs, meanwhile, are on the other end of the spectrum. With a run differential of -14, they are sitting fourth in the NL Central as losers of their last four with a record of 9-17 overall. Fortunately for Chicago, they share a division with the Cincinnati Reds, who have all of four wins through 27 games.
Walker Buehler takes the mound for the Dodgers, looking to find more consistency than he’s shown to open the season. Although Buehler has yet to pitch like he’s capable of, he still owns a 2.12 ERA in 29.2 innings with 26 strikeouts compared to seven walks.
Buehler has thrown a complete game, but also lasted just five innings in three of his outings, and 5.2 in another. Buehler averaged 6.1 innings per start last season. The right-hander is working to get back to pitching more innings and expects it will happen with a few changes he made during a bullpen session.
Buehler has made four starts in his career against the Cubs and he’s posted an ERA of 3.00 across 24 innings pitched. He also came out of the bullpen against them in 2018 and allowed five runs in just one inning.
The Cubs were expected to counter with Marcus Stroman, but he was placed on the injured list (without a designation). Stroman has not yet lived up to expectations since signing a three-year, $71 million contract this past offseason.
The 31-year-old owns a 5.13 ERA in 26.1 innings while striking out 22.
Justin Steele takes the ball in Stroman’s place for his sixth start of the season. The southpaw is 1-3 with a 5.50 ERA and 1.89 WHIP.
Dodgers lineup
RF: Mookie Betts
1B: Freddie Freeman
SS: Trea Turner
C: Will Smith
3B: Max Muncy
DH: Justin Turner
CF: Cody Bellinger
LF: Chris Taylor
2B: Gavin Lux
Cubs lineup
DH: Rafael Ortega
RF: Seiya Suzuki
LF: Ian Happ
C: Willson Contreras
1B: Alfonso Rivas
SS: Nico Hoerner
3B: Jonathan Villar
CF: Jason Heyward
2B: Nick Madrigal
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