The set-up: The Los Angeles Dodgers were MLB's best team during the regular season (104 wins) and they have been MLB's best postseason team so far, as they have yet to lose in the playoffs, going 5-0. They come to Wrigley Field to take on the defending champion Cubs with a 2-0 lead in the NLCS, meaning the Dodgers are two wins away form the team's first World Series appearance since 1988. The series so far has been a story of LA's pitching dominating Chicago's lineup. Los Angeles' pitchers have dominated, allowing only three runs through two games, with the bullpen combining for eight scoreless innings, while allowing only a single baserunner but zero hits! "I think up to this point we've done everything we can to put ourselves in a good position, but there is a long way to go," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters. "It's definitely noted how resilient that club is over there. They're going to do everything they can to win a game, and we're going to do the same." To get back into the series, the Cubs will have to get the big bats in the middle of their lineup going as Chicago is hitting .117 in the series and stars Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo are a combined 1-for-14 with six strikeouts.

The pitching matchup: Yu Darvish (1-0 & 1.80 ERA) takes the mound for LA and Kyle Hendricks (1-0 & 3.27 ERA) for Chicago. Darvish won his only start in the NLDS, allowing one run and two hits while striking out seven over five innings to beat Arizona. It was his first win in three postseason starts (he was 0-2 with 5.40 ERA for Texas). He 4-3 with a 3.44 ERA in nine regular-season starts after the Dodgers acquired him from Texas, where he was only 6-9 with a 4.01 ERA. The Cubs won both of Hendricks' starts against the Nats (Game 1 and Game 5) and he comes in 2-1 with a 2.60 ERA in nine postseason starts. That said, Hendricks wasn't at his best in Game 5 of the NLDS against Washington, as he allowed four runs over four innings, giving up two HRs (one, a three-run blast by Taylor)..

The pick: Darvish got the win in Game 3 vs. Arizona but let's be serious, he only pitched five innings and didn't remind anyone of Justin Verlander and his Game 2 effort vs. the Yankees in Game 2 of the ALCS. Just a reminder, Darvish's moneyline mark this regular season (Texas and LA combined), was minus-$1302, the third-worst among all 2017 starters. Getting back to Hendricks, prior to his less-than-stellar deciding Game 5 outing against Washington, he hadn't given up more than three ERs in 14 starts since the All Star break. In fact, in half of those starts (seven), he had allowed one or zero ERs. Expect the Cubs' bats to 'wake up' vs. Darvish. Make Chicago a 10* play.