The Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies opened a four-game set at Wrigley Field on Monday night with both clubs coming in on sharply different runs. The Phillies were trying to stop a five-game slide, while the Cubs arrived with five straight wins and the kind of offense that had been putting games out of reach.
Philadelphia had scored two runs or fewer in four straight games and had been outscored 37-9 over its last five. Chicago, by contrast, had outscored opponents 39-13 during its own five-game win streak. The teams had already split the season’s early edge, with the Cubs taking two of three from the Phillies last week.
Aaron Nola and Colin Rea were scheduled to meet for the second straight time. In their previous matchup, both starters allowed three runs, but the game swung after that. The Cubs went on to win 10-4 by working against the Phillies’ bullpen, a result that fit the way this series has played so far.
The numbers around the matchup have been even louder than the recent records. The Cubs were hitting.292 against Nola with a.904 OPS, while the Phillies were hitting.366 against Rea in 41 at-bats with a.938 OPS and a.512 slugging percentage. Each of the teams’ three meetings this season had featured one side scoring in double digits, and the two clubs had combined for at least 13 runs in every game between them this year.
That kind of production has made the over a steady theme in the head-to-head series. In the last 10 meetings, it had gone 6-2-2, and it was 4-0-2 over the last six. Chicago’s last six night games against NL East opponents had also hit the over, another sign that this matchup has been living more in the scoring column than the pitching duel.
For the Phillies, the task was straightforward even if the form was not: get Nola through the early innings and avoid another long night against a Cubs lineup that has already taken control of this season’s series. For the Cubs, the challenge was to keep pressing an opponent that has been leaking runs and losing ground at the same time.
What happens next is clear enough. If the recent trends hold, Phillies Vs Cubs is likely to keep producing runs, and the team that blinks first in the middle innings may not get another chance to recover.
