Preview: Giants at Cubs

[October 07, 2016]  The Chicago Cubs led the majors with 103 regular-season victories but that doesn't guarantee them rare postseason success when they open the National League Division Series on Friday against the visiting San Francisco Giants. Chicago was swept out of the playoffs last season in the NL Championship Series by the New York Mets and hasn't won the World Series since 1908.

San Francisco won three World Series crowns this decade and earned the trip to Chicago by blanking the Mets 3-0 in Wednesday's NL wild-card game. "We're looking forward to the next series, and it's good to be moving on, trust me because we had to scratch and claw just to get to this point," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said in a press conference. "But it's all about persevering, and this club has done a great job of that." The Cubs are led by budding superstar third baseman Kris Bryant, the probable NL MVP after having 39 homers and 102 RBIs in his second big-league season. "For me, it's never going to be good enough," Bryant told reporters. "I'm so stubborn. I'm so hard on myself. There's always going to be ways for me to look at my game and say, 'I can do this better.'"

TV: 9:15 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1

PITCHING MATCHUP: Giants RH Johnny Cueto (18-5, 2.79 ERA) vs. Cubs LH Jon Lester (19-5, 2.44)

Cueto went 4-0 with a 1.91 ERA over his final four outings to reach the third-highest victory total of his nine-year career. The 30-year-old is 2-3 with a 5.35 ERA in seven career postseason starts and struggled badly in his first three outings in last year's postseason with Kansas City before coming up big in Game 2 of the World Series with a complete-game two-hitter in a 7-1 victory over the New York Mets. Cueto is 9-8 with a 3.24 ERA in 24 career starts against the Cubs and is 5-5 with a 3.07 ERA in 15 outings at Wrigley Field.

The 32-year-old Lester was superb at home this season with a 10-2 mark and 1.74 ERA and that helped make him an easy Game 1 choice for manager Joe Maddon. "He always embraces the moment. Good things tend to happen," Maddon told reporters. "He really does rise to the occasion. Everything locks in and he tends to execute at a really high level." Lester, who is 4-1 with a 2.25 ERA in five career starts against the Giants, dropped both turns last postseason for the Cubs but is 6-6 with a 2.85 ERA in 16 career appearances (14 starts).

WALK-OFFS

1. The Cubs won four of the seven regular-season meetings with two of their defeats coming against Giants ace LH Madison Bumgarner.

2. San Francisco 3B Eduardo Nunez (hamstring) isn't ready to return, so wild-card game hero Conor Gillaspie (decisive three-run homer) is expected to start.

3. Bryant (6-for-34, two home runs) and 1B Anthony Rizzo (6-for-32, two homers) struggled in the 2015 postseason.

PREDICTION: Cubs 5, Giants 3

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