Thursday NLCS Game 5 Pick

The Chicago Cubs will try to take a 3-2 lead back to Wrigley when they send their left-handed flamethrower John Lester to the mound tonight at Chavez Ravine to face the Dodgers’ Kenta Maeda. Maeda is 16-12 on the season, with an ERA of 3.70, a WHIP of 1.17 and has not performed well in his 2 post-season starts. In Game 1 of the NLCS, he yielded 3 runs on 4 hits over 4 innings of work and in Game 3 of the NLDS, he gave up 4 runs on 5 hits in just 3 innings of work. John Lester is 20-5 on the season, with an ERA of 2.33, a WHIP of 1.00 and has been lights out in his career in post-season play, with an ERA of just 2.57 in 18 appearances. The Dodgers are 0-4 in Maeda’s last 4 starts and 0-5 in their last 5 games against lefties. I like the Cubs in this situation.

Tonight’s pick:

Chicago Cubs