So what more can the Cubs and Dodgers give us after the craziness of last night? A late Dodgers rally off the Cubs’ bullpen put them back in a tie, but Miguel Montero’s pinch-hit grand slam made Wrigley Field shake in excitement. It was a nice little bit of redemption for the Cubs after their embarrassing NLCS sweep at the hands of the Mets last year.
Now they will turn to surprising NL Cy Young contender Kyle Hendricks to give them a 2-0 lead before heading to Los Angeles for Game 3. They face a major obstacle though, as the Dodgers deploy their ace, Clayton Kershaw. A future Hall of Famer already, Kershaw had maybe the most memorable outing of his career in an emergency relief role closing out the Division Series victory over the Nationals, and his last outing came on three days’ rest, too.
Kershaw will, in a sense, be on a normal starter’s rest for this Game 2 outing, but it’s not exactly like his closer “side session” was low-stress, either. The Dodgers pretty much have to lean heavily on Kershaw if they have any hope of winning this series. So can he deliver? It would be a tough task even if he didn’t have a questionable back, but perhaps he can step it up once more and force a split in Chicago.
Regardless, this should be another fun game. It starts up at 8:08pm EST on Fox Sports 1. The lineups are below.
Go baseball, go baseball, go baseball.