The Los Angeles Dodgers return home on Monday night after sweeping the New York Mets at Citi Field over the weekend. They welcome a familiar opponent to town in the Chicago Cubs, who they just lost two out of three games to last week at Wrigley Field.
The two teams are extremely familiar with each other’s personnel considering they have met in each of the last two National League Division Series, with the Cubs winning in 2016 and the Dodgers returning the favor in 2017.
Kenta Maeda starts the series opener for Los Angeles and is coming off a rough showing against the Cubs. He started against them last Tuesday at Wrigley Field, giving up five hits and three runs with two strikeouts and a career-high five walks in 3.2 innings.
Overall in 13 games (12 starts) on the season, Maeda is 4-4 with a 3.84 ERA, 3.22 FIP and 1.39 WHIP. He has struck out 71 hitters while walking 26 in 61 innings.
He has fared much better at the friendly confines of Dodger Stadium, posting a 3.41 ERA in 31.2 innings at home compared to 4.30 in 29.1 innings on the road.
Starting on the opposite side of Maeda is right-hander Duane Underwood Jr., who is making his MLB debut. The 23-year-old is the Cubs’ 29th best prospect according to MLB Pipeline.
In 14 games (13 starts) with Triple-A Iowa this season, Underwood is 3-7 with a 4.27 ERA and 1.24 WHIP. The 2012 12th round pick of the Cubs has 60 strikeouts and 20 walks in 71.2 innings.
The Dodgers head into this series red-hot at the plate after slugging seven home runs in Sunday’s series finale against the Mets. The team has 46 home runs in 20 games in the month of June, which is just seven homers short of the franchise record for home runs in a month (53) set last June.
Joc Pederson has led the way with nine home runs in the month, followed by Max Muncy (eight), Cody Bellinger (seven) and Matt Kemp (six).
For the fourth straight game, the Dodgers lineup does not include Chris Taylor. He is dealing with hamstring tightness, although he does not expect to require a disabled list stint.
Kris Bryant is also out of the Cubs lineup for a third straight game due to a sore shoulder. Ian Happ moves into the infield to play third base in his place.
Dodgers lineup:
CF: Joc Pederson
2B: Max Muncy
3B: Justin Turner
1B: Cody Bellinger
LF: Matt Kemp
C: Yasmani Grandal
SS: Kiké Hernández
RF: Yasiel Puig
P: Kenta Maeda
Cubs lineup:
CF: Albert Almora Jr.
RF: Jason Heyward
2B: Ben Zobrist
1B: Anthony Rizzo
SS: Javier Baez
LF: Kyle Schwarber
3B: Ian Happ
C: Chris Gimenez
P: Duane Underwood Jr.
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