Chicago Cubs @ Cleveland Guardians - August 13, 2024

As a die-hard Cubs fan, I’ve got to admit that watching my team face off against the Guardians is always a rollercoaster of emotions. With the matchup set for Tuesday at Progressive Field, it’s time to dive into what we can expect from this battle on the diamond.

First up, let’s talk about the pitching situation. The Cubs will send their right-hander to the mound with a decent record of 5-3 and an ERA sitting around 3.8. While those numbers might not light up your world, they show he’s been consistent enough this season to keep his team competitive. His strikeout rate is pretty respectable too, nearing 8.5 per nine innings, which is exactly what you want when trying to silence an offense.

On the other hand, we’ve got the Guardians’ lefty who has yet to earn a win this season but boasts an eye-popping ERA of 0.0. Yup, you heard that right! It might sound like a small sample size, but if he pitches as well as those numbers suggest – it could be trouble for our beloved Cubbies. He also averages nearly 8.7 strikeouts per nine innings which indicates he knows how to miss bats.

Now let’s look at how both teams have performed recently leading up to this matchup. The Guardians are riding high with three straight wins and enjoying some solid offensive production averaging just over 4.5 runs per game while managing almost eight hits each night out—a recipe for success in any ballgame! They’ve had their ups and downs recently but are likely feeling good after beating the Cubs in their last meeting with a wild score of 9-8.

The Cubs? Well, they haven’t fared too poorly themselves—winners of four out of their last five games—but let’s be real here; they’ve been more inconsistent on the road lately (2-4 against the spread in their last six). They come into this game averaging about 4.2 runs with slightly lower hit stats than Cleveland; frankly speaking, we’re going to need our boys to bring their A-game if we want any shot at victory!

So what’s my prediction? Honestly? I’m holding onto hope that my Cubbies can pull off a surprise victory tonight; however, given how well Cleveland’s been playing and particularly their recent history against us—it seems like they’re coming in as strong favorites for good reason.

But hey! You never know what can happen in baseball! My gut says that despite these rough patches for Chicago, we’ll see them put up a solid fight today but ultimately fall short once again with something like a final score hovering around under total runs—maybe somewhere near Guardians taking it home by just one or two runs max.

In any case—I’ll be donning my lucky jersey and cheering loudly from my couch because no matter what happens on that field tonight—my heart beats blue and white through every swing of that bat! Go Cubs go!