Can These Struggling Offenses Break Their Slumps and Surprise Fans Tonight?

The Phillies come into this game as one of the favorites to win the National League and even the World Series. While they don’t have the best odds, they are still certainly a threat. The Cubs lineup is great, but so is the Phillies. They have a power hitter that is a threat to go yard every time he steps to the dish in Kyle Schwarber. Trea Turner struggled in the first half of last season, but has been great for the Phillies since. Nick Castellanos is a very talented hitter. Alec Bohm is a reliable hitter and Bryce Harper is a perennial MVP candidate. This team has a bit of everything even with some injuries. They are not playing great right now, having lost five straight and nine of their past ten games. Their hope today lies on the fact that they get Zack Wheeler on the hill. Wheeler is a potential Cy Young candidate, and he is 6-2 for the season with a 2.96 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP. He has been slightly worse at home than he has been on the road, but it really isn’t a significant difference. He is coming off of his worst start of the season – one where he allowed six earned runs to the Braves in 5.1 innings. Cubs hitters haven’t done overly well against Wheeler, going just 23-for-112 overall. Dansby Swanson has about 33% of the at-bats against Wheeler and he is hitting just .143 against him. 

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