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While the baseball world has focused its attention on the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians in the World Series, the offseason is approaching fast, which means trade talk is already beginning to heat up.

The rest of Major League Baseball’s 28 teams yearn to be in the position the Cubs and Indians are currently, and trading is a big reason why Chicago and Cleveland have developed into the two best teams in the sport.

With the winter frenzy of player movement on the horizon, here is a look at some of the biggest names rumored to be available via trade this offseason.

Wade Davis

Kansas City Royals righty Wade Davis has developed into one of the league’s best closers, but with KC needing to make improvements elsewhere to return to the playoffs, he could potentially be on the move.

According to Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball, the Royals have received a great deal of interest in Davis, and they have made him available if the right offer comes their way.

Heyman added Kansas City wants to cut payroll, and dealing Davis would be a good way to do so since his 2017 club option is worth $10 million, according to Spotrac.

Davis racked up 27 saves in 30 chances last season to go along with a 1.87 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 47 strikeouts in 43.1 innings.

While his numbers were fantastic, they actually represented a significant drop-off from the previous two years.

Davis only closed for a portion of 2014 and 2015, but in those seasons combined he went 17-3 with 17 saves, a 0.97 ERA, 0.82 WHIP and 12.1 strikeouts per nine innings.

He also posted four saves and didn’t allow a single run in eight appearances during last year’s playoffs, as he was a driving force behind the Royals winning the World Series.

With the Indians making a deep run due largely to the arms of relievers Andrew Miller and Cody Allen, Davis is the type of player who could take a team to the next level and push them into World Series contention.

Because of that, the Royals would be wise to put a high price tag on Davis, as a team in desperate need of bullpen help may very well be willing to meet it.

Brian McCann

Following one of the worst seasons of his impressive MLB career, New York Yankees catcher Brian McCann is a player the Bronx Bombers would likely prefer to move on from.

The seven-time All-Star spent his first nine seasons with the Atlanta Braves, and a reunion is possible, as Heyman reported the two sides had discussions during the season, which could resume once the offseason hits.

Per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, the Braves are very much in the market for a backstop, but a high asking price could prevent them from bringing McCann back into the fold. He reported the Yanks want either 25-year-old pitcher Mike Foltynewicz or 25-year-old outfielder Ender Inciarte in exchange for McCann.

That seems like a lot for Atlanta to give up on the surface, especially since McCann is set to make $17 million in each of the next two seasons, according to Spotrac.

Although McCann posted his best batting average during his three years with the Yankees last season at .242, his 20 home runs and 58 RBI were a steep decline from the 26 homers and 94 RBI he put up in 2015.

The biggest reason for New York to make a move is the emergence of Gary Sanchez, who hit .299 with 20 home runs and 42 RBI in just 53 games for the Yankees last season.

It will likely be difficult for McCann to get consistent playing time with the Yankees, and while he would be a good asset for a Braves team with plenty of young pitchers, it wouldn’t be wise to give up too much for a player New York may desperately want to trade.

Foltynewicz and Inciarte both have star potential and could blossom in the Bronx for a Yanks team that is suddenly stacked with young talent.

Eating a large portion of McCann’s salary could be such a deal more appealing for the Braves, but New York may need to lower its asking price to make it a reality.

Zack Cozart

After nearly acquiring him during the 2016 season, the Seattle Mariners are reportedly still interested in making a deal for Cincinnati Reds shortstop Zack Cozart.

According to Bob Dutton of the News Tribune, a trade between the two sides was close, and talks are expected to resume during the offseason.

Cozart enjoyed a solid campaign that saw him hit .252 with a career-high 16 home runs, as well as 50 RBI and 67 runs scored.

The 31-year-old veteran bounced back nicely from a couple down years, as inconsistency and injuries prevented him from contributing at the level he displayed in 2012 and 2013.

On top of Cozart‘s strong bat, he is also a plus-fielder, as evidenced by his career Defensive Runs Saved Above Average mark of 54, per Baseball-Reference.com.

Cozart would be a good fit for the M’s, as they didn’t receive much offensive production from the shortstop position in 2016.

Regular starter Ketel Marte hit .259 with just one home run and 33 RBI most often as a bottom-of-the-order guy, while Cozart is capable of contributing higher in the lineup.

The Mariners stayed in the playoff race until the latter stages of the 2016 season, and while Cozart may not put them over the top on his own, he would fill a huge position of weakness and at least help Seattle come one stop closer to ending its postseason drought.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.

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Although there are two years remaining on his contract, New York Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes reportedly intends to opt out of his deal following the World Series.

Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball reported the Cuban slugger will pass up $47.5 million over the next two seasons to become a free agent. ESPN.com’s Adam Rubin confirmed the report.

Per Heyman, two anonymous general managers expect Cespedes to land a deal in the neighborhood of $100 million over four years. Heyman added that the Mets and Cespedes have an “open dialogue.”

According to Rubin, however, the Mets are pessimistic about their chances of bringing back the two-time All-Star.

While the 31-year-old missed 30 games this season, he still hit .280 with 31 home runs and 86 RBI, making him by far the most dangerous run producer in New York’s lineup.

The Mets acquired him via trade with the Detroit Tigers in 2015, and he went on to hit .287 with 17 homers and 44 RBI. He earned National League MVP consideration despite playing in just 57 regular-season games for a Mets team that went on to reach the World Series.

Cespedes re-signed with the Mets last offseason despite having plenty of interest from other clubs, and New York can ill afford to lose him. The Mets ranked 26th in MLB in runs scored with him.

The Mets made the playoffs before getting ousted by the San Francisco Giants in the NL Wild Card Game, but a third straight year of postseason baseball may not be in the cards if Cespedes walks.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.

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The Chicago Cubs tied the World Series at one game apiece with a 5-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians in Game 2 on Wednesday, which means it is now a best-of-five battle to see who emerges as champions.

Jake Arrieta took a no-hitter into the sixth inning of Wednesday’s contest, and the bullpen duo of Mike Montgomery and Aroldis Chapman finished the deal with 3.1 scoreless innings. Ben Zobrist, Anthony Rizzo and Addison Russell all tallied RBI, while Kyle Schwarber posted two hits, two RBI and a run scored as part of his incredible comeback story.

He tore his ACL and LCL in April and had a grand total of four at-bats this season, but he worked his way back for the World Series and notched three hits in the first two games.

Chicago has momentum on its side after Game 2, but that only goes as far as the next game’s pitcher in baseball. With that in mind, here is a look at some odds heading into Friday’s Game 3, as well as some statistical projections for key players.

World Series Odds

The Game 3 moneyline consensus can be found here, and the odds to win the World Series can be found here, each according to Odds Shark.

It must be noted these were the listed odds as of Thursday morning at 1 a.m. ET, and the odds to win the World Series were last updated before Chicago’s win on Wednesday.

Game 3 Stat Projections for Key Players

Pitchers

Kyle Hendricks will be the dominant storyline of Game 3.

While Jon Lester and Arrieta are two household names on the Chicago pitching staff, Hendricks is a Cy Young Award candidate after pitching a career-high 190 innings and posting a 2.13 ERA and sparkling 0.98 WHIP this season.

He already proved himself on the pressure-packed October stage in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He faced three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw with the raucous crowd at Wrigley Field set to explode with the chance to send the Cubs to their first World Series since 1945.

He delivered 7.1 innings of scoreless work with a mere two hits allowed.

It is no surprise he dictated the game at Wrigley Field considering he was lights-out at home this season. According to ESPN.com, he finished with a 1.32 ERA and .201 batting average against in 95.1 innings in front of the Chicago faithful in 2016.

He will also be motivated to pitch in front of those fans on Friday, per MLB:

The Cubs will earn the win and a 2-1 series lead after Montgomery and Pedro Strop finish the eighth and Chapman earns the save.

On the other side, Josh Tomlin didn’t have the head-turning stats Hendricks did this season, with a 4.40 ERA and 1.19 WHIP, but he has been much more effective in the postseason. He allowed just three earned runs in 10.2 innings of work, which is good for a 2.53 ERA.

However, he will revert back to numbers resembling his regular-season marks on Friday, with four earned runs allowed in five innings. Outside of Game 1 of the World Series, when Corey Kluber was simply unhittable, the Cubs offense has been rolling as of late. It tallied 28 combined runs in Games 4, 5 and 6 of the NLCS and Game 2 of the Fall Classic and will get to Tomlin early.

Andrew Miller and Cody Allen will keep Cleveland within striking distance from the bullpen, but it will be too little, too late.

Marquee Hitters

Kris Bryant drilled 39 home runs during the regular season as the potential National League MVP, but he has just one long ball in the postseason. That will change on Friday, when he tags Tomlin for a two-run blast.

Elsewhere for Chicago, Russell proved in this postseason he can deliver after struggling. He had only one hit through his first seven playoff games but then went 6-for-13 with two home runs, five runs and four RBI in the final three contests of the NLCS.

He started slow in the World Series at 1-for-8, but he will deliver some home cooking on Friday with a couple of hits.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports underscored just how quickly the 22-year-old shortstop is capable of turning things around:

Mike Napoli will lead the offensive charge for the Indians with a home run off Hendricks after connecting with 34 during the regular season, but the Cubs starter will limit the damage by scattering a couple of hits from Francisco Lindor and containing the rest of the lineup.

The Cubs will take another step toward earning their first World Series title since 1908.

Prediction: Cubs 4, Indians 1

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It’s been a while, but with the regular season a distant memory and no more than five games remaining in the 2016 MLB season, the time has come to play some fact or fiction as we prepare for what should be a dizzying, somewhat bizarre hot-stove league during the offseason. 

Cue the Welcome Back, Kotter theme song—or Mase’s last attempt at staying relevant.

While the rumor mill is still warming up, bits and pieces of speculation have been sputtering out of its exhaust pipes like chunks of snow after your neighborhood street plow has kindly encased your car in a cocoon of sludge. 

Can a perennial contender keep its longtime dynamic duo together in the middle of its lineup? Is a veteran-laden club prepared to part with one of its younger assets in an attempt to get even younger? Does “not ruling out a return” actually mean there’s no chance of a player staying with his most recent employer? 

We’ll hit on all that and more in this week’s triumphant return of fact or fiction.

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A question for the Cleveland Indians: You didn’t think it was going to be that easy, did you?

Actually, it’s understandable if they thought winning their first World Series since 1948 would be that easy. After all, the Indians encountered little resistance in winning seven of eight games against the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays to get to the World Series. When they won Game 1 on Tuesday, they put themselves on a path that usually leads to victory.

But that path has hit a bump, and the territory immediately beyond is rougher than any the Indians have encountered this October.

The Chicago Cubs are on the board. After going silent at the hands of Corey Kluber, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen in a 6-0 loss in Game 1, the Cubs broke out their bats against Trevor Bauer and the supporting cast of Cleveland’s pitching staff in Game 2 and let Jake Arrieta and their bullpen do the rest.

It took over four hours, but the Cubs left Progressive Field on Wednesday with a 5-1 win that tied the series.

The series resumes with Game 3 at Wrigley Field at 8 p.m. ET on Friday. That gives the Indians a day to assess their standing.

It could be worse. Per ESPN Stats & Info, teams that have won the first game in the World Series have gone on to win the whole thing 24 times in the last 28 series.

But things could also be better. The latest odds at FanGraphs and FiveThirtyEight give the Cubs a 61-62 percent chance to win the series. Looking at how things are shaping up heading back to Chicago, that seems accurate.

After the Indians raised hell in Game 1, Game 2 was a reminder of why the Cubs won 103 games in the regular season. In particular, they made a statement with an offensive attack so relentless that even Tribe manager Terry Francona knows it probably should have produced more than five runs.

“Yeah, we gave up nine hits, eight walks, two errors, and we only gave up five runs,” he said in his postgame presser, via MLB.com. “We’re probably pretty fortunate because there was traffic all night. For us to win, we generally need to play a clean game, and we didn’t do that.”

It didn’t help that Arrieta gave the Tribe little room for error when he had the ball. After Jon Lester struggled in Game 1, Arrieta proved how absurd it is that he’s not the No. 1 starter in Chicago’s rotation by taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning before yielding to Mike Montgomery and Aroldis Chapman.

The one run the Indians scored in Game 2 came home on a wild pitch. This is after two runs came home in Game 1 on an infield trickler and a hit-by-pitch. So outside of Roberto Perez’s two home runs in Game 1, Cleveland’s offense has been generally ineffective in this series.

Offense won’t get easier to find after the move to the National League theater of this conflict. The loss of the designated hitter takes away Francona’s usual spot for Carlos Santana. That will limit one of Cleveland’s best hitters to a pinch-hitting role.

In theory, the trade-off will be the newly revived Kyle Schwarber being moved to Chicago’s bench. But per Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post, Cubs skipper Joe Maddon hasn’t ruled out testing Schwarber’s surgically repaired left knee with outfield duty:

This could create even more pressure for Cleveland’s pitchers. Josh Tomlin isn’t incapable of answering the call in Game 3, but he could need help from Miller and Allen. If he needs a lot of help from them, that could compromise their availability for Games 4 and 5 on Saturday and Sunday.

Oh, and any strong run-prevention effort could be for naught anyway in Game 3. Kyle Hendricks could see to that. 

He looked every bit like the pitcher who led baseball with a 2.13 ERA the last time he took the ball in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, facing the minimum number of batters through 7.1 innings. Cue some hard-hitting analysis: He’s really good.

Regardless of what happens in Game 3, Francona will then be playing not one, not two, but three wild cards with his starting rotation. He announced ahead of Game 2 that Kluber will start on three days’ rest in Game 4. While it’s not yet official, that would mean Bauer on short rest in Game 5 and, if necessary, Tomlin on short rest in Game 6.

Francona didn’t have much choice, of course. It was either this or a plan involving some combination of Ryan Merritt and Danny Salazar in Game 4. Francona isn’t wrong to want to restart the rotation of his best guys instead.

Still, you just never know with starters on short rest.

Even Kluber didn’t look as sharp on short rest in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series. He may not be any sharper in Game 4 of the World Series. Meanwhile, less sharp versions of Bauer (who’s wild to begin with) and Tomlin (who has hittable stuff) would not bode well for Cleveland in Games 5 and 6.

And once again, you worry about the bullpen equation with Kluber, Bauer and Tomlin on short rest.

Good work from the starters would allow Miller and Allen to continue cleaning up. They each have a 0.00 ERA this postseason. Not-so-good work from the starters would put the ball in the court of Cleveland’s other relievers. They have a 4.21 ERA this postseason.

If there’s a reason for optimism in all this, it could be that Cleveland’s loss in Game 2 was a case of a bad matchup.

It seemed the Indians couldn’t do anything with Arrieta not because he was at his best, but because he was unpredictable. His stuff and his location were all over the place, making him effectively wild. The Indians have done better against traditional strike-throwers this October, aggressively attacking and punishing guys like Rick Porcello, David Price, Marco Estrada, J.A. Happ and, most recently, Lester.

As bad as it looks on paper, their matchup against Hendricks and his pinpoint command in Game 3 thus could turn out to be just what the Indians need to get back on track. They’ll face another strike-thrower in John Lackey in Game 4, and then things will turn back over to Lester for Game 5.

Speaking on a more general level, there’s also that nagging suspicion that the Indians are perfect for the underdog role they now find themselves in.

They play a scrappy, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink style of baseball that’s reminiscent of the Kansas City Royals. It’s proven to be a handful even for supposed superteams. And while they’re not always available, their biggest weapons—looking at you, Kluber, Miller and Allen—haven’t yet misfired when they’ve been used.

They’re facing their first big test of the postseason, all right. That doesn’t mean they can’t still ace it.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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The Chicago Cubs had no reason to panic after losing Game 1. Although Jon Lester absorbed a defeat pitching against Cleveland Indians ace Corey Kluber, the Cubs had 2015 Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta on the mound in Game 2.

After a shaky first inning in which he walked two batters, Arrieta settled into a comfortable groove and shut down the Cleveland offense. At the same time, Kyle Schwarber and Ben Zobrist got the offense going, and the Cubs evened the World Series with a 5-1 victory.

There was a sigh of relief in the Chicago clubhouse and throughout Major League Baseball. The Cubs were breathing easier because they avoided going home in an 0-2 hole, while the league was happy to get the second game in without a delay.

The game started an hour earlier than originally planned because the forecast called for rain, and if the the game had not reached its conclusion, it could have delayed the World Series even further, as more rain is expected on Thursday in Cleveland.

The Cubs should have a major advantage in Game 3. Not only do they return home to Wrigley Field and their adoring fans, they have Kyle Hendricks on the mound against Josh Tomlin.

Hendricks is a Cy Young candidate as a result of his brilliant 2016 season. He finished the year with a 16-8 record and had a brilliant 2.13 earned run average. He also had a remarkable 0.979 WHIP.

He is also coming off a brilliant performance in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers in which he pitched 7.1 innings, allowed two hits, struck out six and did not walk a batter in the Cubs’ 5-0 victory.

Tomlin had a 13-9 record with a 4.40 ERA and a 1.190 WHIP. Tomlin has a 2-0 record in the postseason, having defeated the Boston Red Sox in the American League Division Series and the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS. He has a 0.938 WHIP in the postseason.

Tomlin has performed well in the postseason, but Hendricks had a brilliant season and is coming off a clutch performance against the Dodgers.

The Cubs also have the advantage with hitters like Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez and Addison Russell. Additionally, Schwarber‘s return from the torn ligament that had sidelined him since early April is a remarkable story.

Schwarber has three hits in two games as a designated hitter. It remains to be seen if he will be cleared to play the field in the National League ballpark or whether the Cubs will only be able to use him in a pinch-hitting role.

For the Indians, the strategy is to get an early lead and turn the game over to the bullpen. Andrew Miller, who pitched two innings in Game 1 and was the ALCS MVP, did not pitch in Game 2 and will have the benefit of a day off on Thursday. He should be ready to throw another two innings before turning the ball over to closer Cody Allen.

Of course, that strategy only works if the Indians have the lead in the ninth inning.

Prediction

The Cubs will return to their championship-hungry fans, and they will play well and build up a solid lead.

They will attack Tomlin and give Hendricks a 6-2 advantage, and he will pitch six innings before manager Joe Maddon turns the game over to his bullpen. The never-say-die Indians will cut into the lead, but they’ll still trail by two runs in the ninth.

Their chances will look slim when Aroldis Chapman comes into the game with his 103 mph fastball. However, the Indians will raise their concentration level and mount a rally. Mike Napoli will strike the big blow when he launches a two-run homer onto Waveland Avenue, giving the Indians a two-run lead.

Allen will come in and close down the Cubs. The Indians will stun the Cubs and their fans with an 8-6 come-from-behind victory.

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CLEVELAND — Don’t worry. Hitting savant Kyle Schwarber isn’t Superman all down the line. In some respects, he’s just like you and me.       

Take the private plane that winged him back to the Chicago Cubs on Monday night, his first trip to the majors since the devastating knee injury in early April. OK, so the private plane part might not be like you and me. But the accompanying boredom was.

“It was a long three hours,” Schwarber said.

Three hours and a million miles. That’s how long his trip back to the big leagues was this week. Private plane or no, the Wi-Fi was spotty and unworkable. He tried to watch one of his favorite television shows, The Blacklist, but no dice.

So what he had was plenty of time to think. As he reviewed his painful and laborious summer, there was no way he could envision what was up ahead.

But in one area, he had an idea.

Whack!

After not facing major league pitching since April 7, Schwarber stepped into the World Series with aplomb. After rapping a Game 1 double Tuesday, he knocked in two Game 2 runs to key the Cubs to a 5-1 win over the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday night to even the 2016 World Series at one game apiece.

Thwack!

The man who went 0-for-4 during the regular season before blowing out his knee against the Diamondbacks in Arizona is 3-for-7 with two walks and two RBI in nine plate appearances in these two games.

“I can see why Theo sent a plane for him,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona quipped, referring to Theo Epstein, the Cubs’ president of baseball operations. “I would too.

“That’s a lot to ask. But special players can do special things.”

It’s absurd, is what it is. You have a 23-year-old kid who has only played in 71 career MLB games at this point, essentially missed an entire season, missed the first two rounds of the postseason, and Chicago ushered him straight into a World Series.

“Most teams wouldn’t even do that,” Cubs second baseman/left fielder Ben Zobrist said. “No one else in history has done that, right?

“And to get hits in the World Series? It’s just crazy. It really is.”

Yes, Schwarber envisioned this. Well, sort of.

“You want to visualize what it’s going to be like when you come back so you’re not thrown off by what happens when you’re there,” he said. “You want to put yourself in good situations in your head, and hopefully they play out in the field.

“Visualization is a very powerful tool, and I believe in that.”

So instead of watching The Blacklist as he became the first player in history to jump from the Arizona Fall League’s Mesa Solar Sox straight into a World Series, he envisioned hits. He pictured success. He dreamed a thousand dreams over again, the ones he imagined when he was a kid, the same dreams other kids who get bored on plane rides dream. World Series, game on the line, runners on the bases, here comes Schwarber to the plate…

Crack!

It was early April when Schwarber blew out his left knee, and it was mid-April when he had a full reconstruction of his ACL ligament and a repair of his LCL ligament. The surgery was performed by Dr. Daniel Cooper, the team physician for the Dallas Cowboys, and the upshot of it was, work hard and you’ll be good as new next spring, kid.

All summer, as the Cubs played, Schwarber worked. His goal, he said, was to “dominate the day.”

“It was just constant grind,” he said. “There were days when I wasn’t feeling it.”

On those days, when the Cubs were home and in the clubhouse while Schwarber was rehabbing, players by the handful would look to pick him up. Led by reliever Pedro Strop, they would tell him, “You’ll be back by the World Series.” You know, well-meaning things to boost a friend’s confidence. But stuff maybe both of you know is a long shot.

When the Cubs were in Los Angeles during Games 3, 4 and 5 of the National League Championship Series against the Dodgers, the long shot moved onto their doorstep. At his six-month appointment, doctors cleared him to hit. Schwarber immediately phoned Epstein and asked for a chance. The Cubs sent him to the Arizona Fall League to see some pitching.

So now, Schwarber suddenly is locked in a battle with his second colossal problem of the year. Now, he faces reporters, and they ask him questions like the leadoff query following Game 2: Not to be disrespectful to anyone, Kyle, but is this game so easy that you can take six months off and do this?

Schwarber listened and grimaced.

“No, it’s not that easy, first off,” he said. “Baseball’s a crazy game. It will do crazy things to you.”

It will, and it has. Nobody outworks this kid. Ask any of the Cubs; they’ll tell you he was the first one in the clubhouse every day covered in sweat even though he had no chance of playing for months. For Schwarber, every day was Groundhog Day.

Work ethic? Check this out: During his brief time in Arizona, where he went 1-for-6 with one double and two walks for the Solar Sox, before and after the two games he played, he says he tracked roughly 1,300 pitches off of a pitching machine.

“I tried to set it to the nastiest setting that I could, to where it would be a really sharp break, just to train my eyes all over again,” he said.

“He’s insatiable with his work,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.

Man, it shows. In Game 1 against Corey Kluber, who threw some of the filthiest pitches the Cubs have seen all season, Schwarber worked a full count in his first at-bat before striking out, scorched a double to right field his next time up and then battled for six pitches to draw a full-count walk in his third plate appearance against Kluber.

He hadn’t faced major league pitching since April 7, yet against a man who won the 2014 American League Cy Young Award, Schwarber battled as well as any other Cub.

“You see how he’s taking pitches that are just borderline,” Maddon said. “And that’s probably the most amazing part. Hitting the ball is one thing, but you can see he’s not jumpy. He’s seeing borderline pitches, staying off a ball, he’s not check-swinging and offering.

“That’s the part that’s really impressive to me.”

You can see why in July, when many folks thought acquiring Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees would cost them Schwarber, among other pieces, the Cubs figured out a path to the trade to keep him.

In July 2015, he was the MVP of the Futures Game. His uncle, Thomas Schwarber, pitched for Ohio State and in the Detroit Tigers system. Kyle, though, opted to attend Indiana University because he knew, despite his success as a middle linebacker at Middletown (Ohio) High School and all the recruiters who were wooing him, he wanted to play baseball. At Indiana, he could.

As recently as August 2015, he told me he still missed playing football because of the “physical factor.” Meaning: He missed hitting people.

But don’t think the football background contributed to his plow-forward determination through rehab this summer.

“No, I think it’s just my personality,” the Cubs’ first-round draft pick in 2014 told me Wednesday night. “That helps more than anything.”

He’s a keeper, in so many ways.

“You saw how he jacks everybody up,” Maddon said of the two RBI Wednesday. “Those couple of big hits he got, again, really, Anthony Rizzo responded well to it. The whole group did. It makes your lineup longer. It makes it thicker. It makes it better.

“Ben Zobrist is seeing better pitches right now because of that, too, I believe.”

The Cubs won 103 games this summer without Schwarber, so the natural question now is, how much better are they with him?

“Good question,” Zobrist said, pausing for a moment to ponder. “I don’t know. I think he certainly adds wins to the team. You talk about that WAR statistic, whatever…he probably would have added some wins to the equation if we had him all year, but we didn’t. He worked his tail off, and it’s huge.”

Third inning, Cubs clinging to a 1-0 lead with Rizzo on second and Zobrist on first. Schwarber got the green light on a 3-0 Trevor Bauer pitch and drilled it up the middle to score Rizzo.

“I was thinking, ‘Please swing,'” Rizzo said. “On 3-and-0, the pitcher doesn’t want to walk you, so he usually throws it down the middle of the plate.”

Said Kris Bryant: “Pretty much everybody here has the 3-and-0 green light, but it takes some guts to do that. It was awesome to see. I love when guys swing at 3-and-0.”

Yes, as Maddon said, you can see how Schwarber jacks everyone up. So now as this World Series heads for Chicago, will the kid be in the lineup Friday night to help jack up a Wrigley Field crowd already salivating at hosting its first World Series game since 1945?

As of Wednesday, doctors hadn’t cleared Schwarber to play defense. Maddon said he has total faith that the kid can play defense. The questions are, what about lateral movement? Quick stops? Change of direction?

“Those are the kinds of things I don’t know anything about,” Maddon said.

Best bet: The Cubs keep Schwarber out of the outfield at home, and Maddon picks a big moment to send him to the plate as a pinch hitter.

But that’s all for Game 3 Friday. As the rain poured down late Wednesday night, Schwarber and his teammates headed for their flight home, an airplane that certainly was going to have good Wi-Fi and better company for Schwarber. His long road back has delivered him into the World Series.

What a place to be.

“Hey, man, I’m living the dream,” Schwarber said. “We’re playing in the World Series; what else can you ask for? I’m just going to keep riding the wave until it ends.”

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

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The postseason of the bullpens ran into an everlasting truth in the first two games of the World Series.

The team with the better starting pitcher still wins most games. And the team with more good starting pitchers has an edge over the team that doesn’t have enough.

Officially, this World Series is tied at a win apiece after Wednesday night’s 5-1 Chicago Cubs victory in Game 2. Realistically, the Cubs have a significant edge over the Cleveland Indians for the same reason they had a big edge in Game 2.

Overall, their starting pitchers are better.

Maybe you didn’t see it in Game 1, because Corey Kluber is a true ace who was able to outpitch Cubs star Jon Lester. You sure did see it in Game 2, because while Cubs starter Jake Arrieta was a perfect fit for the assignment, Trevor Bauer was just an Indians version of Julio Urias or Kenta Maeda.

Remember them? They were the guys the Los Angeles Dodgers had to send to the mound in Games 4 and Game 5 of the NLCS after back-to-back shutouts put the Cubs in a 2-1 hole in the series.

Urias went 3.2 innings. The Dodgers lost big.

Maeda went 3.2 innings. The Dodgers lost big.

Soon enough, the Cubs were out of the hole and headed to the World Series.

So there the Cubs were Wednesday, trying to recover from their Game 1 loss to Kluber. They turned to Arrieta, who won a Cy Young Award last year. The Indians went to Bauer, who has talent but can’t always harness it.

Bauer went 3.2 innings. Guess who won big?

It helped, obviously, that Arrieta didn’t give up a hit for the first five innings. It helped that the Cubs had Kyle Schwarber, whose miraculous return looks more amazing by the day.

But on a night where the cold weather made pitching difficult, the Cubs had a starter who was up for the job. The Indians didn’t.

Arrieta threw too many pitches (98 in 5.2 innings), and he admitted to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal that the cold weather kept him from getting a consistent feel of the ball.

“I did my best just to make some pitches,” he said.

That’s the difference between a guy who has won a Cy Young and a guy who has good stuff but is still far from figuring things out. Arrieta made pitches to get himself out of trouble, while Bauer kept making pitches that got him into trouble.

For all the questions after Game 1 about whether Andrew Miller’s 46 pitches would keep him out of Game 2, what really kept him out of Game 2 was the starting pitching mismatch. By making sure the Indians never got the lead, Arrieta kept Miller safely stowed away in the Indians bullpen.

Miller could still have a major impact on this World Series. So could Kluber, with the Indians making plans to start him on short rest in Game 4 and thus have him available to start a Game 7 (also on short rest).

But it’s going to take more than the two of them for the Indians to win it. They’re going to need a good performance from Josh Tomlin, who starts Game 3 against National League ERA champ Kyle Hendricks. They’re going to need someone to give them a chance in a Game 5 and a Game 6.

The Cubs have four legitimate World Series starters, with John Lackey set to go in Game 4. The Indians would have had the same thing if Danny Salazar (forearm) and Carlos Carrasco (hand) hadn’t got hurt in September.

It’s a credit to this team that it got this far without Carrasco and Salazar (who returned for the World Series and pitched out of the bullpen Wednesday). They deserve their place in the World Series, and they still could win it.

As big an edge as the Cubs starters have on paper, it’s no bigger than the edge Florida Marlins ace Kevin Brown had over Chad Ogea in Games 2 and 6 of the 1997 World Series. Ogea won both of those games and would have been the World Series MVP if the Indians had held on in Game 7.

The Indians are going to need another Ogea this week, another relative unknown to shine. Otherwise, the Cubs’ rotation edge will likely play out the way it did Wednesday night.

They had the better starting pitcher. They won the game.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

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The Cleveland Indians had home-field advantage entering the World Series because the American League won the 2016 All-Star Game, but the Chicago Cubs seized it Wednesday with a 5-1 victory in Game 2 at Progressive Field.

The series is tied at one game apiece thanks to a strong pitching performance from Chicago. 

Starter Jake Arrieta took a no-hitter into the sixth and allowed just one earned run and two hits in 5.2 innings of work. Mike Montgomery and Aroldis Chapman combined to close the door with 3.1 innings of scoreless work out of the bullpen. 

Cleveland didn’t get nearly as much from its staff. Trevor Bauer started and lasted just 3.2 innings while allowing two earned runs and six hits. It was an improvement from Game 3 of the American League Championship Series when he pitched only 0.2 innings before leaving because a laceration on the pinkie finger of his pitching hand was bleeding on his uniform and the ball.

Zach McAllister also gave up two earned runs from Cleveland’s bullpen. 

Kyle Schwarber and Ben Zobrist led the offensive attack for the Cubs with two hits apiece. Schwarber tallied two RBI and scored a run, while Zobrist scored and added an RBI of his own. Anthony Rizzo and Addison Russell also tallied RBI on Wednesday.

The Cubs could have scored more, but they left 13 runners on base, per MLB.com.

Cleveland received two hits from Mike Napoli and a run from Jason Kipnis, but its offense managed just four hits all game.

The Cubs scored their first World Series run in 71 years in the first inning, when Kris Bryant singled and scored on Rizzo’s double. David Schuster of 670 The Score in Chicago noted it was an important start for the Cubs after being shut out in Game 1 against Corey Kluber, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen:

Cleveland battled back with two walks in the bottom of the frame, but Arrieta escaped the jam with a deep flyout from Jose Ramirez.

Chicago got to Bauer again in the third when Rizzo walked, advanced to second on Zobrist’s single and scored on Schwarber’s hit. Schwarber tore his ACL and LCL in April and was expected to miss the season, but he battled back for the Fall Classic and made his presence known in Game 2. 

Jason Goff of 670 The Score in Chicago reacted to Schwarber’s remarkable comeback:

The Cubs drove Bauer from the game in the fourth after he walked Willson Contreras and allowed a single to Russell, but he did induce a double play from Jorge Soler following Contreras’ free pass to prevent a costly rally.

On the other side, Arrieta didn’t allow a hit through the first four innings despite three walks. Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic reacted to his start:

Chicago provided him with additional run support in the fifth, when Rizzo walked and scored on a hit down the line from Zobrist. Right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall slipped on the play, which allowed Rizzo to score easily and Zobrist to advance to third.

Schwarber tacked another on with an RBI single, and Russell drew a walk with the bases loaded to make it 5-0 after a Kipnis error extended the inning.

Tom Fornelli of CBSSports.com was already looking ahead to Game 3 at Wrigley Field, where designated hitting won’t be an option for Schwarber:

The Indians had a comeback story of their own in the sixth, when Danny Salazar worked a scoreless frame out of the bullpen. It was his first appearance since Sept. 9 after he suffered an elbow injury.

Cleveland finally got a hit off Arrieta in the bottom of the sixth, when Kipnis drove one up the middle. Christopher Kamka of CSN Chicago put the starter’s performance into historical context:

Kipnis advanced to third on Francisco Lindor’s groundout and scored on a wild pitch from Arrieta. Cubs manager Joe Maddon removed his starter from the game after he allowed a hit to Napoli, and Montgomery ended the rally by inducing a groundout.

Chicago had the opportunity to break things open in the seventh with bases loaded and one out for Bryant, but Dan Otero entered for the Indians and retired the potential National League MVP with a fielder’s choice. He got Rizzo out as well and kept Cleveland within striking distance at 5-1.

The Indians threatened in the seventh with two runners on and two outs, but Montgomery struck out Carlos Santana. The Cubs reacted to the clutch performance on Twitter:

Montgomery also recorded two outs in the eighth but handed the ball to Chapman after allowing a hit to Napoli. The fireballer struck out Ramirez and sent the game to the ninth, where he retired the side to even the series.

What’s Next?

The Cubs have the opportunity to win the series at home with Games 3, 4 and 5 all at Wrigley Field, but all Cleveland has to do is win one road game to get home-field advantage back.

Game 3 is Friday, and Chicago will send Cy Young Award candidate Kyle Hendricks to the mound. He finished the season with a 2.13 ERA and 0.98 WHIP and pitched a gem against Clayton Kershaw in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series with 7.1 scoreless innings and just two hits allowed.

The Indians will counter with Josh Tomlin, who posted a 4.40 ERA and 1.19 WHIP during the regular season. He has been better in his two postseason starts with just three earned runs in 10.2 innings.

While Chicago has the advantage on paper with the pitching matchup in Game 3, Cleveland has Kluber looming for Game 4 and possibly Game 7 if the series goes the distance. All it would take is one win with someone else on the mound at Wrigley to swing that advantage the Indians’ way.

Postgame Reaction

Cleveland manager Terry Francona underscored just how cold it was Wednesday, via the Indians:

He also talked about Schwarber’s performance, per Jon Morosi of MLB Network: “He’s really good. I can see why Theo sent a plane for him. I would have, too.”

Schwarber put things in perspective, per CSN Chicago’s Cubs Talk: “This is the moment you dream of as kids: Playing in the World Series and winning.”

He was also asked if he will play in Games 3-5 when there is no designated hitter and said, per Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune, “We’ll see where it goes. Nothing set in stone.”

Dexter Fowler responded to the realization the Cubs won their first World Series game since 1945, per Gonzales: “Y’all talk history. We’re just trying to make it.”

Chicago is three wins away from doing just that.

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MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said Wednesday he plans on reassessing whether the Cleveland Indians‘ Chief Wahoo logo should continue having a place in the sport.      

“I’ve talked to Mr. [Paul] Dolan about this issue,” Manfred told reporters. “We’ve agreed away from the World Series at an appropriate time we will have a conversation about this. I want to understand fully what his view is, and we’ll go from there. At this point, in this context, I’m just not prepared to say more.”

Some have condemned the mascot as being racially insensitive to Native Americans. Before Cleveland faced the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series, a Native American activist in Canada petitioned a court to block the use of the Cleveland Indians name and Chief Wahoo logo.

“It’s quite obviously a derogatory, cartoonish representation of an indigenous person,” Michael Swinwood, a lawyer for the man who brought the suit, told the Associated Press’ Rob Gillies. “The whole concept of how it demeans native people is essentially his concern.”

Manfred provided more of his thoughts on the matter:

I know that that particular logo is offensive to some people, and all of us at Major League Baseball understand why. Logos are, however, primarily a local matter. The local club makes decisions about its logos. Fans get attached to logos. They become part of a team’s history. So it’s not easy as coming to the conclusion and realizing that the logo is offensive to some segment.

The Chief Wahoo logo has long been a source of controversy. In 2014, the team switched to the blocked “C” as its primary logo, but players voted to wear caps and uniforms donning the Chief Wahoo logo throughout the 2016 postseason.           

Follow Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) on Twitter.

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