The San Francisco Giants will play the Chicago Cubs on Friday night in a huge MLB Playoffs 2016 game. This NLDS Game 1 match up is intriguing and the Cubs will be hoping to maintain home field advantage with an opening game win tonight. The game has a scheduled start time of 9.15 p.m. ET and takes place from Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. The game can be watched on TV on the Fox Sports 1 network or online through live stream via the link below.
The Giants go on the road for today's game and will be sending out Johnny Cueto to the mound after Madison Bumgarner pitched a shutout game in the Giants' Wild Card game victory earlier this week.
Cueto registered an 18-5 record this season with a 2.79 ERA, and his last postseason start was in Game 2 of the World Series in 2015 where he pitched a complete game for the Royals as they defeated the New York Mets.
Opposite Cueto will be Jon Lester pitching for the Cubs. Lester posted a 19-5 record this season with a 2.44 ERA, and the 32 year old has an overall career ERA of 2.85 in the postseason.
Chicago enter the postseason as the favorites for this year's World Series having been the best team in the MLB since Spring Training. However, they face a stern test of their credentials in the form of the Giants, whose caliber in the postseason in recent years is well known. The Giants of course have won World Series in every even year since 2010, claiming the title in 2010, 2012 and 2014. Their fans of course will be hoping that again that this will be their year, and even though they are up against the favorites for this year's title, they will have a sneaking suspicion that their name could be on the trophy again this season.
Bumgarner won't be available until Game 3 due to his Wild Card game exploits, but that also means the Cubs may be looking at their two opening home games knowing that they have little room for error before things switch to AT&T Park.
The Cubs will be sending out their big guns to try and ensure they leave Wrigley Field with their home field advantage in tact, with Lester heading out today, and Kyle Hendricks for Game 2 - both are the NL's ERA leaders.
The Giants meanwhile will be hoping to steal one of the opening two games, so they head back to San Francisco for Game 3, and they will then be throwing the ball to Bumgarner, asking him to get them the win to set them up with a chance of knocking out the NL's top seeded team at home.
Today's big MLB 2016 Playoffs NLDS Game 1 between the San Francisco Giants and the Chicago Cubs has a scheduled start time of 9.15 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the Fox Sports 1 network or online through live stream by clicking here.
