Chicago Cubs (5) at San Diego Padres (4), 10:00 PM ET

CHC: RHP Matthew Boyd (10-5, 3.91 ERA, 106 DRA-), SD: RHP Michael King (12-10, 3.21 ERA, 103 DRA-)

If you like the Phillies’ toss-up of a starting pitcher situation, the Cubs might well be for you. Kevin Gausman was the presumptive Game 1 starter until he injured his non-pitching shoulder making a play in the field during his last start. He threw a bullpen session recently, and seemed to come out of it…alright, but given how he uses his left shoulder—keeps it firm and then rips down to get his pitching arm through—it must not have been enough. It’s also not particularly clear how or if he’ll factor into the rest of the series, which leaves much up in the air beyond just this game.

For his part, Boyd is a four-pitch lefty whose fastball-change pairing account for over 70% of his pitches. Broadly speaking, he’ll work fastball up, changeup down, although he’ll also push the heater inside to lefties. The slider is both a strike pitch and a chase offering to righties, but primarily a chase pitch to lefties, and a successful one at that—it garners a 37% whiff rate overall.

On the other side, is Michael King, the Padres’ stand-in ace. He’s likely miscast in the role, but absolutely has the ability to shut down an opposing lineup on a given day. He throws five pitches, four of them at least 19% of the time, keeping hitters off balance with a deep mix. One version of him is the modern sinker-sweeper type, while the other operates as a fastball-changeup iteration, more like Boyd. King has seen a decline in his strikeout rate and an uptick in walk rate this year, and vs a patient, potent Cubs lineup, that could spell trouble.