Chicago Cubs @ Los Angeles Angels – Series Preview (June 6-8): Overview, Game and Broadcast Info, Starting Pitchers, W2W4
The Cubs (26-33) split four with the San Diego Padres to begin a 10-game West Coast road trip. Their hitters continued to struggle to produce runs and their two losses came via shutout, something that didn’t happen in their first 49 games of the season. Chicago remains in Southern California for a three-game series with the star-studded Angels beginning Tuesday night.
Los Angeles (31-30) has hovered around the .500 mark all season despite getting another year of outstanding performances from superstars Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. Not surprisingly, the Angels are in the top 10 in baseball in both OPS (.757) and home runs (81) with those two in the lineup.
Ohtani is also the ace of the Angels’ pitching staff, but the rotation gets very thin after the baseball unicorn. Though the Cubs will luckily miss him on the mound this series, they will still have to figure out how to neutralize his bat. Should the home team secure the lead, closer Carlos Estevez already has 14 saves.
The Angels are certainly beatable as long as their powerful offense does not get into gear, but we’ve seen far too often that it doesn’t always take much to outscore the Cubs. Maybe David Ross can motivate his team with a trip to Disneyland if they manage to win the series.
Game Time and Broadcast Info
- Tuesday, June 6 at 8:38pm CT on MLB Network (out of market only) and Marquee.
- Wednesday, June 7 at 8:38pm CT on MLB Network (out of market only) and Marquee.
- Thursday, June 8 at 8:38pm CT on MLB Network (out of market only) and Marquee.
Starting Pitchers
| Date | Pitcher | Age | T | ERA | W/L | FIP | K/BB |
| 6/6 | Hayden Wesneski | 25 | R | 4.81 | 2-2 | 5.66 | 2.91 |
| Tyler Anderson | 33 | L | 5.47 | 2-1 | 5.35 | 1.32 | |
| 6/7 | Jameson Taillon | 31 | R | 7.05 | 1-3 | 4.12 | 3.18 |
| Jaime Barria | 26 | R | 1.59 | 2-2 | 3.11 | 3.09 | |
| 6/8 | Drew Smyly | 33 | L | 3.56 | 5-3 | 3.80 | 3.35 |
| Reid Detmers | 23 | L | 5.17 | 0-5 | 3.62 | 2.86 |
What to Watch For
- Christopher Morel is ice cold and has not gotten a hit since May 26 (0-for-18).
- Likewise, Seiya Suzuki went 0-for-15 in the Padres series.
- Ohtani and Trout have combined for 28 homers and 73 RBI so far this season.
- Taillon had his best outing of the year last start in San Diego.
