The set-up: The Giants' Cueto and the Cubs' Lester squared off in an old-fashioned pitchers duel last night. The 1-0 Cubs win was decided when Javier Baez homered in the bottom of the eighth. Cueto gave up just three hits over eight innings and struck out 10, while Lester allowed five hits with five Ks in his eight innings. Aroldis Chapman finished the job in the 9th. The Cubs now look to open a 2-0 series lead tonight at Wrigley Field.

The pitching matchup: Jeff Samardzija (12-11, 3.81 ERA) goes for San Francisco and Kyle Hendricks (16-8, 2.13 ERA) for Chicago. Samardzija returns to a park he knows very well, as he was a member of the Cubs for nearly seven seasons. He went 31-42 with a 3.97 ERA during that span and was traded to the Oakland A's during the 2014 season. He signed with the Chicago White Sox in 2015 and then joined the Giants as a free agent this season. Hendricks is coming off the best season of his brief career, as he won seven of his final eight decisions and led the majors in ERA (2.13).

The pick: Hendricks made the first two playoff starts of his career in 2015 but was unable to last five innings in either, finishing without a decision after surrendering five runs and nine hits (four HRs) over 8 2/3 innings in outings at St. Louis in the NLDS and against the New York Mets in the NL Championship Series. However, he matured by leaps and bounds in 2016, becoming the first Cubs pitcher to lead the majors in ERA since Bill Lee (2.66 ERA) in 1938. He went 9-2 with a 1.32 ERA in 15 games (14 starts / Cubs were 10-4) at Wrigley Field. His home ERA was the lowest for any pitcher in MLB. Samardzija continues to be talked about as a pitchers with "great stuff' but his career 59-72 (4.04 ERA) speaks for itself. The Cubs are. an 8* play.