The Chicago Cubs (89-63) and Pittsburgh Pirates (93-60) will square off on Friday at 2:20 p.m. ET at Wrigley Field in perhaps the most important series for these two clubs as the 2015 MLB regular season winds down.
Scroll to the bottom for the MLB live stream and radio broadcast.
In a battle of aces, the Cubs will send Jon Lester to the mound to face the Pirates' Gerrit Cole. The two teams last met at PNC Park early last week and the Cubs took three out of four from the Pirates with Lester throwing a one-run complete game in one of those matchups.
However, the Pirates still have the upper hand and lead Chicago by 3.5 games in the wild-card race. If the season were to end today, Pittsburgh would have home-field advantage for that game, but the good news for the Cubs is that they've already clinched the season series against the Pirates, so if they both finish with the same record, Chicago would have home-field advantage.
The battle for that begins this afternoon.
Lester has absolutely dominated the Pirates this season, going 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 16 strikeouts in two starts. The left-hander is 10-11 with a 3.46 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 192 strikeouts in 30 starts (190 innings) this season and today could be his important start of the year thus far as the Cubs can clinch their first postseason berth since 2008 with a win.
He'll be backed by the potent Cubs' offense, which as of late has been led by Kris Bryant. The shoo-in for NL Rookie of the Year is batting .276/.369/.501 with 85 runs scored, 26 home runs and 98 RBIs in 142 games this year. Fellow rookie Kyle Schwarber has added 16 home runs in 61 games this year and NL MVP candidate Anthony Rizzo has yet to take his foot off the gas pedal.
But facing Cole will be no easy task. The Pirates have won six straight as they return from their West Coast road trip and Cole looks to get redemption against the Cubs since he hasn't earned a win against them since April.
The right-hander is 1-1 with a 2.41 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 24 strikeouts in three starts versus Chicago this year and is 6-1 with a 3.10 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 61 strikeouts in eight career starts (49 1/3 innings).
He's 17-8 with a 2.64 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 192 strikeouts in 30 starts (194 innings) in 2015.
Pittsburgh's offense hopes to get to Lester early to prevent him from going deep into the game for his third straight time against them this season. The Pirates have scored 40 runs during their six-game winning streak and will look to use that to their advantage to extend their lead in the wild-card race.
Click here to check out the lineups for each club.
Check out the live stream for the game here as well as the live radio broadcast here (CHC) and here (PIT).
