Arrieta carries Chicago to NLDS

Chicago Cubs fans are excited about Wednesday night’s wild-card game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but as you can see from the tweets below, they are also very nervous.

The Cubs’ pitching gurus don’t have Baltimore’s irrational hatred of pitching “cutters,” which has a lot to do with why Arrieta became an ace in Chicago.

The Cubs and Pirates are familiar foes, but how much will that matter?

The promotion will run at select downtown and North Side Giordano’s locations.

“I would venture to say we’ll be rooting for the Pirates”, said Vaccaro, who is seeing a major wagering handle on the wild-card games with the Cubs and Yankees being involved in isolated prime-time spots.

I think the Cubs have a clear bullpen advantage in a one-game, winner-take-all situation. Fowler singled, driving in a run with Russell. “They have elevated their play to a level that’s beyond their years, and it’s one of the big reasons we’re here”. The thinking is conservative, perhaps, but given the matchups and a one-and-done scenario, it’s reasonable. Or maybe they’re just too good to care.

He went to the Pirates’ Wild Card loss to the Giants previous year. No one else on the team is above the Mendoza line against Arrieta this season, and the rest of the Pirates have combined for two walks (to Pedro Alvarez) and one extra-base hit (a Josh Harrison double) against him.

Maddon took the opposite approach, starting Kris Bryant in left and Schwarber in right and Tommy La Stella at third – positions each had played only sparingly during the regular season – because it was the lineup that presented the most firepower. Tomlin (7-2) made one mistake – a two-run homer by David Ortiz. But here is what I do know: Cole has pitched more than seven innings in just six of his 32 starts this season. But I think our guy is better.

“I’m going to watch it until I got to go to bed”, Spaeth said.

“No, it wasn’t easy, and no, I didn’t agonize”, Hurdle said of his decision. That is, if Arrieta isn’t busy throwing all nine innings.

The 11th-year veteran was a St. Louis Cardinals fan but has admittedly jumped on the Pirates bandwagon in the last three or four years. Ogletree underwent surgery to fix his fractured right fibula on Tuesday.