The Los Angeles Dodgers will try to go up 3-1 in the National League Championship Series against the heavily favored Chicago Cubs. The Dodgers will be at home, and having won the last two games, they certainly have momentum on their side. Manager Dave Roberts has officially made his decision on who will take to the mound on Thursday.
20-year-old Julio Urias will start for the Dodgers in without a doubt the biggest game of his young career. This will be the first career postseason start for the Mexican-born pitcher, and just his second playoff appearance. Urias briefly made a two inning appearance against the Washington Nationals in the National League Division Series.
Urias will be the youngest pitcher in Major League Baseball history to start a postseason game.
Urias finished this regular season, his rookie year, with a 5-2 record and a 3.39 earned runs against average. The Cubs won 12 more games than the Dodgers this season, but still find themselves down 2-1 in this series after being shutout the last two games. If Urias can bring his “A Game” and power the Dodgers to a Game 4 victory, this series will pretty much be over. That’s a lot easier said than done of course.
Urias will be taking on John Lackey. Lackey, 37 years old, has far more playoff experience having already won two World Series titles, but he did have a rough outing last series. Lackey allowed three runs in just four innings against the San Francisco Giants in Game 4 of the National League Division Series.
So much pressure is mounting on the Cubs to win this game not just because of their 1908 World Series drought and lofty expectations, but because the Dodgers have their ace resting for Game 5. Clayton Kershaw is arguably the best in the game today, and in all likelihood he’ll get the start for Game 5 on Thursday.
In layman’s terms: this is a must win game for the Cubs.
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