The set-up: The Pirates and Cubs were postponed by bad weather on Monday and then Pittsburgh took Tuesday's rescheduled game, 8-5.The Cubs bounced back Wednesday night, banging out 16 hits in a 13-5 victory that evened the series. Every starting position player recorded at least one hit, including Javier Baez, who became the first Cubs player with consecutive multi-homer performances since Alfonso Soriano in 2008 and the first player in the majors to accomplish the feat this season. Baez now has four HRs in his last eight at-bats! The teams will play the rubber game of the series this afternoon, as the Pirates look to avoid suffering their first series loss of the year. The 8-3 Pirates have yet to lose back-to-back games this season while the 6-5 Cubs hope to move two games over .500 for the first time in 2018.

The pitching matchup: Pittsburgh's Trevor Williams (2-0, 1.59 ERA) puts his perfect start to 2018 on the line this afternoon, opposed by Chicago's Kyle Hendricks (0-0, 4.09 ERA). Williams threw six hitless innings in a 1-0 win at Detroit on April 1 but issued five walks and struggled to command the strike zone. He then allowed 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings but only two runs in his second outing, a 14-3 win at home over Cincinnati this past Friday. Williams makes his third start of 2018 today. However, in five career games (three starts) against the Cubs, he has not been at his best. He is 1-2 with a 4.82 ERA in 18 2/3 innings. During that span, he has walked 10 and struck out 13. Hendricks has been on the wrong end of a pair of one-run games to open 2018.the season (both Chicago losses and no-decisions for him). He gave up a pair of HRs the last time out, allowing four runs and nine hits over five innings in a 5-4 loss at Milwaukee. Hendricks took a no-decision in his season-opener in Miami on March 30, allowing four hits and one run over six innings of a 2-1 Chicago loss. In 10 career starts against Pittsburgh, Hendricks is 4-2 with a 3.23 ERA. He has struck out 49 and walked nine in 55 2/3 innings. Last year, he went 1-1 in three starts against the Pirates, allowing five runs in 17 2/3 innings for a 2.55 ERA.

The pick: Hard-fought series are nothing new to these division rivals, as despite Chicago finishing 17 games better than Pittsburgh in 2017, the Cubs barely edged the Pirates for a 10-9 season-series win. This marks Williams' second full season and he's coming off a 7-9 (4.07 ERA) mark in 31 appearances (25 starts) in 2017. Meanwhile, Hendricks was the third-place finisher in the 2016 National League Cy Young Award voting (16-8, 2.13 ERA) and is 38-22 in his career. He's also been outstanding at home in his career, going 19-9 with a 2.48 ERA in 50 games (49 starts) at Wrigley Field. Make Chicago an 8* play.