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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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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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Fresh off his historic start in Game 1 of the World Series against the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians ace Corey Kluber has gotten the nod from manager Terry Francona to start Game 4 on Saturday, Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller reported Wednesday.

Francona also added that Kluber will go for Game 7 if necessary, via Matt Snyder of CBS Sports. 

Kluber helped the Indians take a 1-0 series lead by striking out nine batters over six innings without allowing a run Tuesday.

His performance was headlined by a dominant start as he became the first pitcher in World Series history to strike out eight batters in the first three innings, via the Fox telecast: 

He also set an Indians World Series record for strikeouts in an entire game, surpassing Orel Hershiser in Game 1 of the 1995 series against the Atlanta Braves and Jaret Wright in Game 7 of the 1997 Fall Classic against the Florida Marlins, both of whom fanned seven. 

More importantly, Kluber threw just 88 pitches on the night, which could go a long way with just three days of rest. 

The 30-year-old has only started a game on three days’ rest once in his career, and it came earlier in the postseason. After throwing 100 pitches in Game 1 of the ALCS against the Toronto Blue Jays, Kluber returned for Game 4 and went five innings, allowing two runs on four hits as the Indians lost 5-1. 

But given the way the powerful Cubs offense had such difficulty getting to Kluber, it’s only natural that Francona and the Indians will want to roll out their ace as much as possible in the World Series. After all, this was a Cubs team that had scored 23 runs in the final three games of the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

What makes Kluber so difficult is his deception on the mound. With the same windup and release point for each of his pitches, it’s all but a guessing game for batters to try to decipher whether his pitch will stay true like a fastball or perform a last-second, severe break like his devastating cutter. 

It makes Games 2 and 3 that much more important for the Cubs now that the ace they couldn’t touch is looming in Game 4. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com. 

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The Chicago Cubs tied the World Series with a 5-1 Game 2 victory over the Cleveland Indians.

In a lengthy four-hour contest moved up due to weather concerns, the Cubs collected nine hits and eight walks. Every starter reached base, including Kyle Schwarber, who continued his highly improbable comeback with two RBI singles.

Despite struggling to throw strikes early, Jake Arrieta took a no-hitter into the sixth. He allowed one run over 5.2 frames to earn his first victory of the postseason.

Trevor Bauer, meanwhile, lasted only 3.2 innings for the Indians. While he experienced no issues with his injured finger, he relinquished six hits, two walks and two runs during his brief start.

The Fall Classic now heads to Wrigley Field for the first time since 1945 at a 1-1 stalemate.

FINAL SCORE: Cubs 5 – 1 Indians

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The World Series schedule is always announced in advance, and as soon as the All-Star Game is completed and the home-field advantage is assigned to the victorious league, it’s simply a matter of filling in the teams that are champions of their respective championship series.

Once the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians had established themselves as league champions, we knew they would play Game 2 of the World Series at Progressive Field Wednesday night at 8:08 p.m. ET.

That was the case, but not anymore. Major League Baseball, in receipt of a weather report that indicated rain was likely later on Wednesday night, switched the start time to 7:08 p.m. with the hope the Cubs and Indians will complete the game before heavy rain forces a halt to the action.

Fox will televise Game 2.

After Cleveland jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the series behind the dominant pitching of Corey Kluber, the Indians will try to stretch their advantage to 2-0 behind Trevor Bauer. The Cubs, who want to even the World Series at 1-1 before returning home to Wrigley Field for Friday’s Game 3, will send 2015 Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta to the mound.

Bauer will have to overcome a cut on the pinkie finger of his pitching hand, as well as the Cubs’ sluggers. He lasted just 21 pitches when he started Game 3 of the American League Championship Series before he was removed because his injured finger was bleeding.

Bauer told reporters he was confident he would be able to pitch in the World Series without incident, but he also said he was confident that his finger would not bleed prior to his ill-fated ALCS start.

“I wouldn’t take the mound if I didn’t feel confident I’d be able to pitch and help the team,” Bauer explained to reporters. “So, yeah, I’m confident like I was back then too.”

Arrieta had an 18-8 record with a 3.10 ERA during the regular season, but he has not been on top of his game this postseason. He takes a 4.91 postseason ERA into his start Wednesday night.

Arrieta explained that pitching in the World Series was his motivation for playing baseball. 

“It’s why you play the whole season,” he told reporters. “To hopefully be in this position to be one of the last two teams standing with an opportunity to win a World Series for your organization, your city, for your team, friends and family. So it means a ton.”

While the Cubs lost Game 1, they got a lift from the return of Kyle Schwarber, who doubled off Kluber and drew a walk off reliever Andrew Miller. Schwarber had not played since suffering two torn knee ligaments in an early-April game at Chase Field in Arizona.

The Indians got a boost in the series opener from catcher Roberto Perez, who clubbed two home runs. He had hit three home runs during the regular season but morphed from light-hitting catcher to Game 1 hero with his performance Tuesday night. 

“Oh, I don’t think I’ve ever had a night like that,” Perez told reporters.

Despite the six-run loss, the Cubs remain confident. Shortstop Addison Russell told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times that the team fought harder than the score indicated. 

“I think there’s a sour taste in our mouth tonight, because I think that we put up a better fight than that,” Russell said. “I went outside my approach and kind of pressed a little bit. But you turn the page. You stay hopeful and you get better tomorrow.”

If the Cubs don’t get better, they will be in an 0-2 hole when they return home to the Windy City, and that’s something they want to avoid.

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The awakening of the Cleveland Indians’ bats gave them a 6-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs and a 1-0 lead in the World Series Tuesday, but the teams are back in action Wednesday night, when the Cubbies have a chance at redemption.

Cleveland rode the dominance of starter Corey Kluber and reliever Andrew Miller into the driver’s seat; however, Chicago is unlikely to see either of them in Game 2, which means it has a golden opportunity to even things up.

Ahead of Wednesday’s pivotal Game 2, here is a look at the top odds and bets to consider, as well as a prediction for which team will come out on top.

Where: Progressive Field in Cleveland

When: Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET

Watch: Fox

Odds and Prop Bets

Cubs Player to Watch: Jake Arrieta

Jon Lester wasn’t his dominant self in Game 1, which adds pressure on Jake Arrieta to regain his Cy Young form in Game 2.

Arrieta won the National League Cy Young Award last season, and although his numbers were great this year (18-8 with a 3.10 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 190 strikeouts), he faltered a bit down the stretch.

The 30-year-old veteran went just 6-4 with a 3.69 ERA during the second half of the regular season, which was solid but far from the form he displayed previously.

His up-and-down nature has carried over into the playoffs, too, as he struggled in his National League Division Series start against the Los Angeles Dodgers by allowing six hits and four earned runs in five innings.

He can’t afford a similar outing in Game 2, especially since history is already working against the Cubs, according to ESPN Stats & Info:

The entire roster is counting on Arrieta to toss a gem Wednesday, and that includes Lester following his shaky performance, per Steve Greenberg of the Chicago Sun-Times:

Arrieta‘s career postseason ERA of 4.11 may not inspire a ton of confidence, but he does boast a 1.01 WHIP and 38 strikeouts in 30.2 innings, which suggests some bad luck has been involved.

Despite his playoff inconsistencies, Arrieta seems ready to take the ball in the biggest game of the season to this point, according to Paul Skrbina of the Chicago Tribune.

“It’s why you play the whole season to be in this position,” the pitcher said. “It means a ton.”

A 1-0 deficit is already difficult to come back from, so the Cubs can’t afford to drop Game 2 as well.

Chicago’s bats will have to contribute to make that happen, but if Arrieta gives the Cubs length and quality, that will go a long way toward leveling the series.

Indians Player to Watch: Trevor Bauer

After being forced to exit his American League Championship Series start against the Toronto Blue Jays after just 0.2 innings due to a bleeding cut on his pinkie suffered while working on a drone, Trevor Bauer will take the mound for the Tribe.

While Bauer’s hand was a bloody mess against the Jays, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported that the injury appears to have improved:

In addition to that, Bauer insisted he feels good and ready to compete on the biggest stage in baseball, according to Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune.

“I feel confident every time I take the mound,” he said. “I wouldn’t take the mound if I didn’t feel I’d be able to pitch and help the team.”

Although the Indians are up 1-0, Bauer is facing a ton of pressure to go deep in the game due to Cleveland’s bullpen situation.

Miller threw 46 pitches Tuesday, so one can only assume that manager Terry Francona would rather not have to turn to him again.

Closer Cody Allen could potentially be available for multiple innings, but that would still require a long outing for Bauer or strong performances from some of Cleveland’s less heralded relievers.

Bauer went just 4.2 innings and allowed six hits, three earned runs and two home runs in the division series against the Boston Red Sox, which won’t cut it in Game 2.

The Cubs are a sleeping giant offensively with big bats such as Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell and Kyle Schwarber waiting to break out.

If Bauer can last against that lineup, it will go a long way toward ending Cleveland’s World Series championship drought.

Game 2 Prediction

Although Game 2 isn’t a must-win situation for the Cubs in a technical sense, the uphill climb toward winning the World Series would be steep if they fall behind 2-0.

Chicago has a deep enough starting rotation and lineup to overcome any deficit; however, talk of curses and “the same old Cubs” is bound to pop up if they are unable to tie the series in Game 2.

The pitching matchup appears to favor the Cubs despite Arrieta‘s hit-and-miss form as of late, especially since Bauer was poor down the stretch and has yet to turn in a strong playoff start.

Chicago also has too much hitting talent to stay down for long, while Cleveland isn’t going to get two home runs from catcher Roberto Perez every game like it did in Game 1.

The Cubs are better built to deliver consistent offensive performances, and their starter has a better chance to go deep in the game Wednesday.

The biggest key is the possibility that Miller may not even be available for the Indians, so if Chicago can knock Bauer out fairly early, that will put Cleveland at a disadvantage.

With the stakes at their highest so far this season, the Cubs will come through and deliver a victory in Game 2 to even up the series as it heads back to the Windy City.

Game 2 Prediction: Cubs 5, Indians 1

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.

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The Chicago Cubs played like they had not been in a World Series since 1945 as they fell to the Cleveland Indians 6-0 in Game 1 Tuesday.

But despite that loss, the Cubs remain slight favorites to win the series at most sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark and are listed as -155 chalk (bet $155 to win $100) to take Game 2 Wednesday.

Chicago will turn to 2015 National League Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta (0-1, 4.91 ERA in two starts this postseason) in an effort to even the series before heading to Wrigley Field for three games over the weekend.

The two outings for Arrieta (game log) in the playoffs both took place on the road and resulted in losses, but he went 11-3 with a 3.59 ERA in 15 regular-season starts away from home as opponents hit just .203 against him.

Cleveland will be hard-pressed to duplicate ace Corey Kluber’s performance in Game 1 after he set a World Series record by striking out eight batters in the first three innings.

Trevor Bauer will head to the mound next and hopes to last longer than his latest outing, which totaled less than an inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS because stitches came loose on his pinky finger that was injured in an incident with a drone.

Bauer (game log) went 6-4 with a 4.73 ERA at Progressive Field during the regular season.

If Bauer cannot stay in the game again, the Indians have a solid option out of the bullpen in former starter Danny Salazar, who could throw up to 70 pitches after coming back from a forearm injury and being added to the postseason roster. Like designated hitter Kyle Schwarber for the Cubs, Salazar could be an X-factor in this series.

Schwarber had a fairly impressive Game 1 in his return from a gruesome knee injury that had sidelined him since the first week of the season, hitting a double with a walk and two strikeouts.

Cleveland manager Terry Francona improved to 9-0 in World Series games with the victory following two sweeps with the Boston Red Sox. Another betting trend in the Tribe’s favor is that the Game 1 winner has gone on to win the World Series 17 of the previous 19 years, including six straight.

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Jake Arrieta, line one is for you. It’s destiny calling—and it’s urgent.

Don’t worry. We’re not going to get too melodramatic after the Chicago Cubs‘ dispiriting 6-0 loss to the Cleveland Indians in Game 1 of the World Series at Progressive Field on Tuesday.

Wednesday’s Game 2, which will begin an hour early at 7:08 p.m. ET on Fox because of the threat of rain, isn’t a must-win for Chicago.

It’s a best-of-seven series; the math is simple.

It is, however, a really-should-win, as well as an opportunity for Arrieta to overcome his checkered postseason past.

Overall, Arrieta owns a 4.11 ERA in 30.2 career playoff innings. That screams mediocrity, but the story is far more complex.

All of Arrieta’s postseason appearances have come over the past two seasons with Chicago. In the 2015 National League Wild Card Game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, he twirled nine shutout innings with no walks and 11 strikeouts.

That same year, Arrieta won the NL Cy Young Award with a 1.77 ERA and 236 strikeouts in 229 innings. Still, he wobbled in his next two postseason starts.

He surrendered four earned runs in 5.2 innings in Game 3 of the division series against the St. Louis Cardinals, which the Cubs ultimately won 8-6. Then he gave up four earned runs in five innings in a Game 2 loss in the National League Championship Series to the New York Mets.

The Cubs were swept in that series. As for Arrieta, the sample-size explanation jibed at the time.

Arrieta, however, slumped in the second half of 2016 and particularly in September and October, when he allowed 27 hits, 11 walks and 15 earned runs in 29.1 innings.

That fecklessness leaked into the playoffs. He yielded 12 hits and six earned runs in his starts in Game 3 of the division series versus the San Francisco Giants and Game 3 of the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers, both Cubs losses.

Chicago maintained its momentum and nailed down the franchise’s first pennant since 1945 thanks to an offense that leads all postseason qualifiers with 48 runs scored and a pitching staff that has gotten superlative performances from the likes of Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks. 

Lester went unbeaten in the Cubs’ series against San Francisco and Los Angeles, rekindling the October magic that defined his stint with the Boston Red Sox, but he took the loss in Game 1 of the World Series.

Hendricks, meanwhile, mustered a sparkling performance in the clinching Game 6 against the Dodgers on Saturday, facing the minimum number of hitters through 7.1 shutout innings.

Skipper Joe Maddon and the Cubs brain trust, however, opted to push Hendricks back to Game 3 of the World Series, likely to afford him extra rest and exploit the 1.32 ERA he posted at Wrigley this season.

With veteran John Lackey locked in for Game 4, that leaves Arrieta on the hill for Game 2. Fox Sports’ Jon Morosi suggested the Cubs’ rotation was set up “nicely.”

It’s hyperbole to say Arrieta is all that stands between Chicago and a 2-0 series deficit. Indians relievers Andrew Miller and Cody Allen, however, demonstrated again Tuesday that an early Tribe lead is nearly insurmountable.

Cleveland ace Corey Kluber threw six shutout innings and made strikeout history, so dish credit in his direction.

Miller and Allen, though, recorded the final nine outs, six via strikeout. They’ve now combined for 22.1 scoreless playoff frames in 2016 with 39 whiffs.

Arrieta’s directive is to tamp down early offense. He needs to keep Cleveland off the board and give the Cubs a chance to draw first blood, neutralizing the threat of the Miller/Allen two-headed demon.

Arrieta posted a 3.59 ERA on the road this season compared to a 2.62 mark at home. So Maddon isn’t exactly playing the splits.

Instead, it’s time for the 30-year-old right-hander to conjure the guy who won the Senior Circuit’s highest pitching honor a season ago and authored two of MLB‘s last three no-hitters.

“It’s why you play the whole season,” Arrieta said, per Paul Skrbina of the Chicago Tribune. “To be in this position.”

Arrieta’s drop-off wasn’t the result of some cataclysmic event. He sported a 1.56 ERA at the end of May. Overall, however, his command fizzled, as he issued 76 walks in the regular season compared to 48 in 2015.

“It’s hard to repeat what he did last year,” Cubs catcher Miguel Montero said, per USA Today‘s Josh Peter. “He hasn’t pitched as well, but the stuff is still there.”

The point is, he’s not broken. He’s merely on the fritz. This is the time of year when unlikely heroes rise and stars wake from their slumber.

Locked and loaded as they were in Game 1, Indians hitters own a .219 postseason average. That number drops to .209 against righties.

“I would say the only problem Jake Arrieta has is excellent levels,” super-agent Scott Boras said of his client Oct. 18, per Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. “It’s the old story. Most people have a penthouse. He happens to have two or three floors. That’s where Jake is. Any one of the floors, we’re fine with.”

The Cubs would be fine with a quality outing and a chance to hand it off to their own pen, including flamethrower Aroldis Chapman.

Arrieta’s counterpart in Game 2, right-hander Trevor Bauer, is no sure bet as he recovers from a freak drone injury. 

Arrieta has every opportunity to be the better starter. He has a shot at high-profile redemption and an automatic pass to the annals of Cubbies lore.

Destiny is calling. Now, we need an answer.

All statistics current as of Tuesday and courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted. 

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After the Cleveland Indians took a 1-0 World Series lead with a 6-0 Game 1 victory, the Chicago Cubs will now try to even things up in Game 2.

Corey Kluber was outstanding to start things off for Cleveland, racking up nine strikeouts in six shutout innings before the bullpen finished off the shutout. Roberto Perez was also key, hitting two home runs with four RBI from the No. 9 hole in the lineup.

This is just one game in a best-of-seven series, but the pressure is now on the Cubs to bounce back and avoid falling into too deep of a hole before returning home.

World Series Game 2

When: Wednesday, Oct. 26

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Where: Progressive Field, Cleveland, Ohio

TV: Fox

Live Stream: FoxSportsGo

Preview

Chicago’s offense was a big disappointment in Game 1. Ben Zobrist did his job going 3-for-4 on the day, but the rest of the team ended up just 4-for-30 (.133 batting average).

Perhaps the most notable statistic was the 1-for-11 mark with runners in scoring position.

We have seen this lineup turn things around in a hurry, especially with elite hitters like Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, but the series isn’t off to a great start. On the plus side, the hardest part might be over for the time being.

Matt Spiegel of 670 The Score discussed the necessary strategy:

The Indians are planning on turning to Trevor Bauer in Game 2, although a lot rests on the right-hander’s pinkie.

Bauer’s last start came in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series, but he was taken out after facing four batters when his finger started bleeding all over the mound. The pitcher had injured himself fixing a drone earlier in the week and his stitches opened up when he started pitching.

He remains confident going into his next start, however, much to the excitement of manager Terry Francona, per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com:

While Francona was unsure about whether Bauer or Josh Tomlin would start Game 2, he made up his mind Tuesday, according to Mike and Mike.

The Cubs might have more confidence with their starting pitcher as Jake Arrieta takes the mound. The 2015 Cy Young Award winner wasn’t great in his last outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers (four earned runs allowed in five innings), but he had a 3.10 ERA during the regular season with a .194 opponent batting average.

Although he hasn’t been as consistent lately, the 30-year-old starter has good enough stuff to give Cleveland’s offense trouble all game long. Even red-hot hitters like Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez can be slowed down by the talented starter.

While the Indians have the usual advantage in the bullpen, this might not be the case Wednesday after Andrew Miller was forced to throw 46 pitches across two innings in Game 1. According to Jayson Stark of ESPN.com, he hasn’t thrown this much in relief since 2011.

It’s difficult to imagine the lefty getting back onto the mound just one day after such a workload.

Cleveland has other capable relievers, but anyone who isn’t Miller is a relative drop-off considering what he has done this postseason (zero runs in 13.2 innings).

Look for Chicago’s hitters to bounce back while Arrieta does enough to help the Cubs pull even in the series. 

Prediction: Cubs 6, Indians 2

Follow Rob Goldberg on Twitter.

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