The good news about yesterday is that due to the rainout, it was officially impossible for the Braves to lose! Of course, the bad news was that it meant that the Braves didn't have a chance to win since they wouldn't be playing, and whether they're bad or not, any day without seeing the Braves play is a bit of a bummer.
Well, we won't have to worry too much about that today, since the weather in Chicago will relent enough for us to be able to see the Cubs and Braves play today. Both teams will be starting the pitchers that they were scheduled to start on Saturday, which means that Julio Teheran (4.60 ERA, 4.69 FIP) will be getting the ball to start the day for the Braves. He's coming off of what was his best start of the season, in which he went seven innings, struck out eight, and only gave up one run against the Boston Red Sox. Boston's lineup didn't have too many lefties in it, though, and Teheran's going to be facing a much stiffer challenge in the form of Chicago's offense. As we know from Friday, you can keep the Cubs quiet for a little bit, but they're always a threat to put a crooked number on the scoreboard in any inning, which means that Teheran will have to be at his sharpest in order to keep Chicago at bay today.
Meanwhile, the Cubs will be sending John Lackey (4.97 ERA, 3.17 FIP) to the mound for today's contest. After he stuck it to his former employers in his third start of the season (7 IP, 11 K, 4 H, 0 ER vs St. Louis), the Reds roughed him up a little bit in his most previous start (5.2 IP, 5 K, 7 H, 6 ER), so he'll be trying to bounce back against the normally-anemic Braves offense. As you'd expect for a pitcher who's spent most of his career in the American League, none of the current Braves have too much experience facing Lackey. A.J. Pierzynski, Kelly Johnson, and Nick Markakis are the exceptions here, and Markakis has actually had a decent amount of success against Lackey in his career. In 68 plate appearances, Markakis is hitting .338/.416/.456 against Lackey. However, most of those hits were of the single variety, and he has no home runs against Lackey, so there's that.
One interesting wrinkle to look out for today is the lineup -- though one could argue that as long as Fredi Gonzalez is in charge of the Braves, the lineup will always have the potential to be an adventurous one. The rain did not wash that idea away, so we will be seeing that particular lineup again. This isn't a new tactic from Fredi, as he did it multiple times during the 2014 season and a few times outside of that season as well. So, be prepared for that particular wrinkle as we get ready for today's game at Wrigley Field.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Sunday, May 1, 2:20 p.m. ET
Location: Wrigley Field, Chicago
TV: Fox Sports South
Radio: WYAY 106.7, Braves Radio Network, 680 AM/93.7 FM