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The 2016 World Series became all knotted up Wednesday, as the Chicago Cubs were able to steal a road win over the Cleveland Indians.

After Cleveland shut out Chicago 6-0 in Game 1, the Cubs returned the favor in Game 2 with a 5-1 win behind stout performances from Jake Arrieta and Kyle Schwarber. Now the series shifts for a three-game set in Chicago, as the Cubs have a chance to grab a lead at home.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the television and live-stream schedule for Game 3, in addition to a preview of the critical showdown.

Game 3 Preview

Not only was Game 2 important for the Cubs in terms of tying the series, but it also put the team in position to take advantage of a nice pitching matchup on Friday with a series lead on the line.

Chicago will trot out Kyle Hendricks, who became one of the best pitchers in baseball this season in a loaded Cubs rotation. The 26-year-old led the majors with a 2.13 ERA, and he has been excellent this postseason with just three earned runs allowed in 16.1 innings.

Hendricks was much better at home this season than on the road. He went 9-2 with a sparkling 1.32 ERA at Wrigley Field compared to a 7-6 mark on the road, which was the best in baseball, per CSN Chicago’s Christopher Kamka:

However, we don’t know how Hendricks will handle Cleveland’s lineup, since he has practically no experience against the current roster. He has faced only Marlon Byrd and Coco Crisp, and since Byrd has not been a playoff contributor, the only relevant comparison is with Crisp, who is 0-for-3 against Hendricks.

The Cy Young candidate should have plenty of confidence, as he proved he can win on the big stage in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series. With a trip to the World Series on the line, Hendricks was sensational with two hits and no runs allowed in 7.1 innings. That garnered praise from his potential MVP teammate, per ESPN.com’s Bradford Doolittle.

“That’s the best pitching performance I’ve seen,” Kris Bryant said after Game 6. “Just throwing exactly where he wants to. Soft contact. He’s certainly the unsung hero of this team.”

Cleveland will counter with Josh Tomlin, who was solid this season with a 13-9 record and 4.40 ERA.

With Danny Salazar just coming back from injury and Carlos Carrasco out, Tomlin was thrust into the playoff rotation and has responded well. Though he has only 10.2 innings pitched in two starts, he is 2-0 with a stout 2.53 ERA with only three walks allowed. 

Indians manager Terry Francona seems to have plenty of trust in Tomlin, as the 32-year-old is expected to receive multiple starts in this series, per Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller:

Both of those starts will come at Wrigley Field, and as opposed to Hendricks, Tomlin actually performed better on the road this season than in Cleveland. He went 8-4 with a 4.31 ERA on the road compared to 5-5 with a 4.50 ERA at home.

Tomlin also has little experience against this current Cubs roster, having faced only Miguel Montero, David Ross and Ben Zobrist. In 19 career at-bats, Zobrist has just two hits off Tomlin.

It looks like the difference in Game 3 will be which team can get runners in scoring position. On the season, Hendricks was excellent in this situation, surrendering just a .178 opposing batting average in 33.2 innings pitched. On the other hand, Tomlin struggled with a .287 opposing average in 29.2 innings. He also allowed 49 earned runs to Hendricks’ 29.

Through two games this series, Chicago has been able to get in this position more often than Cleveland has, but the Cubs are converting at a less efficient rate. They are 4-for-23 combined with runners in scoring position, while the Indians are 2-for-13.

Given that the Cubs are generating more baserunners in scoring position, they should feel good going up against Tomlin. There will also be a ton of energy in Wrigley Field, as Chicago is playing its first World Series game in the stadium since 1945.

This should give Chicago an edge in Game 3, especially if Hendricks continues to pitch well. Cleveland could have a chance to hold off the home team if it can get a lead after about five innings of work from Tomlin, but that may be a lot to ask for.

Statistics are courtesy of MLB.com and FanGraphs, unless otherwise noted.

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In front of what promises to be a raucous Wrigley Field crowd, the Chicago Cubs will look to take a 2-1 lead over the Cleveland Indians in Game 3 of the 2016 World Series on Friday night.

The Indians will send Josh Tomlin to the mound, and Kyle Hendricks will get the nod for the Cubs. Corey Kluber and Jake Arrieta both delivered gems for their teams in Games 1 and 2 respectively, and starting pitching will likely be the decisive factor in Friday’s game as well.

World Series Game 3

When: Friday, Oct. 28, at 8 p.m. ET

Watch: Fox

Live Stream: Fox Sports Go

Game 3 Preview

Patience was a virtue for the Cubs in Game 2. Indians pitches walked eight batters Wednesday night, with Trevor Bauer having a particularly difficult time putting hitters away. Bauer threw 87 pitches in 3.2 innings, compared to 88 pitches in six-plus innings for Kluber.

In that respect, Tomlin may put Cleveland in a better position to succeed than Bauer. According to FanGraphs, Tomlin allowed the fewest walks per nine innings (1.03) in the league among qualified pitchers.

The Cubs have a potent lineup—one made more effective when hitters are allowed free bases and work deep into counts.

Tomlin doesn’t have overpowering stuff, as evidenced by his 4.40 earned run average and 4.88 FIP during the regular season, per Baseball-Reference.com. The conditions inside Wrigley Field could be troublesome for the 32-year-old right-hander as well.

The Chicago Tribune‘s Tom Skilling reported Friday’s forecast is calling for wind blowing out toward the outfield, which will help the baseball carry.

On Thursday, Tomlin remained indifferent about any impact the weather might have, according to Cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes: “The stuff you can’t control is the stuff I’m not going to concern myself with at the moment. My job is to keep the ball down in the zone, try to induce quick outs and keep them off the barrel of the bat. Whether the wind is blowing out, in, sideways or up, I really don’t care.”

Tomlin allowed 1.86 home runs per nine innings in the regular season, third-highest among qualified starters, per FanGraphs. His propensity to give up the long ball and the heavy winds could be a toxic combination for the Indians.

At least Cleveland won’t have to worry about Kyle Schwarber causing the kind of damage he did in Games 1 and 2. Despite missing almost all of the regular season, the 23-year-old is 3-for-7 with two runs batted in in the World Series.

Schwarber will be limited to pinch-hitting duties when the Cubs are playing at home. Team president Theo Epstein announced Thursday that Schwarber isn’t medically cleared to return to the outfield, per the team’s Twitter account.

Even taking Schwarber out of the equation, the Cubs still have plenty of offensive weapons. Tomlin will have a difficult time navigating through a lineup that features Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, both of whom hit 30-plus home runs, as well Ben Zobrist, Javier Baez and Addison Russell.

The silver lining from Game 2 for Cleveland was that manager Terry Francona didn’t need to call upon either Andrew Miller or Cody Allen. As a result, both relievers will be even more fresh for Game 3.

The problem may be that Tomlin will have already allowed too many runs for Miller or Allen to make any sort of impact.

The big question for the Indians is whether they can get a quality start from anybody other than Kluber. Francona is going to use a three-man rotation for the World Series, per Andrew Marchand of ESPN.com, with Kluber, Bauer and Tomlin pitching on three days’ rest beginning in Game 4.

At some point, Tomlin or Bauer will have to step up, and that’s assuming Kluber is lights out over his remaining starts.

A loss Friday night wouldn’t be a devastating blow to Cleveland’s World Series chances, but it would cast further doubt as to whether the American League champion has the pitching to go all the way.

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CHICAGO — The old girl is dressed to the nines. Wrigley Field, on deck to host her first World Series game Friday night since Oct. 10, 1945, is crackling with energy.

And when the Chicago Cubs take the field to face the Cleveland Indians in Game 3, this shrine of a ballpark, which has produced so many memorable afternoons and, later, evenings, will author a first: An African-American wearing a Cubs uniform will play in a World Series game in Wrigley Field.

The Cubs have not been here since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947.

Which means, well, gasp, yes.

It is amazing to even attempt to rationally wrap our minds around it. How we got here, how in the name of Martin Luther King Jr., or even Ernie Banks, this hasn’t happened before in Wrigley, is a testament to a century of futility for the Cubs.

“Ernie and I tried, but we didn’t get there,” Cubs Hall of Famer Billy Williams said.

Williams was standing in the visitors’ dugout at Cleveland’s Progressive Field as he spoke, beaming, looking at his beloved franchise in a real World Series, smiling at the thought of leadoff man Dexter Fowler, shortstop Addison Russell, outfielder Jason Heyward and reliever Carl Edwards Jr. becoming the first black men to play in a World Series wearing a Cubs uniform in any venue.

“The World Series itself is great, but when you look at all the things that have happened in baseball and then you look and see that four African-Americans are playing in a World Series for the Cubs for the first time in all those many years, it’s really something,” he continued.

“It gives you two thrills: To be here at the World Series, and to see those individuals play.”

That it comes at a time of more jagged racial tension in our country’s history, with the Black Lives Matter movement pushing for change and policemen under fire, might not make the debuts of these four Cubs any more significant. But it sure makes them more deeply felt.

“Just knowing Dex and J-Hey, and knowing C.J. [Edwards Jr.], we’ve always been the type of people to never settle for the everyday usual,” said Russell, who became the first African-American to collect a World Series RBI for the Cubs when he drew a bases-loaded walk to push across the fifth run in Chicago’s 5-1 Game 2 victory.

“I think that’s what has driven us. We didn’t have a choice to pick the ethnic background that we have, but it is what it is, and we are who we are, and we try to make the best of it that we can.

“Black Lives Matter is a huge movement. I think African-Americans need to be heard, for sure.”

Russell added that it is “nice on paper” to be able to say that he’s one of the first four African-Americans to play in a World Series for the Cubs. Fowler, who became the first black player to play for the Cubs in a Fall Classic when he led off Game 1 by taking a called third strike against Cleveland ace Corey Kluber, said it was “awesome” to play the role of a trailblazer.

Heyward, the free agent who signed an eight-year, $184 million deal but has lost his starting spot because of a prolonged slump, downplayed the racial angle while acknowledging the larger moment.

“I haven’t thought about it other than we come in every day and prepare as players to do what we can to help our team win,” Heyward said. “We go out there on a daily basis, representing our family name, representing our organization, representing our city, and that’s the bottom line.

“We were born African-Americans, and there’s nothing we can control there. It’s been that way our whole lives, so it’s not surprising to say it’s a first.

“It’s unique and cool and, I guess, humbling to be a part of it for the first time. But we’re just here by chance, you know? Everything happens for a reason.”

What is not by chance, and what is instructive about this particular group of Cubs, is how they’ve ascended racial boundaries all summer long.

Most of the team—black, white, Latin—gathered in Fowler’s Cincinnati hotel room in April to celebrate Jake Arrieta’s no-hitter earlier that day.

Heyward, in a classy pay-it-forward move thanking a veteran who had taken him under his wing when they both were with the Atlanta Braves organization, has footed the bill for David Ross to be upgraded to a hotel suite on every Cubs road trip this year. That has continued into the postseason, Ross said, a gesture that is especially meaningful now because Ross’ wife, children and parents have been traveling in October, and the suite gives them all a place to stay and spread out.

Ross spoke at length of Heyward’s generosity Thursday.

To Heyward, being kind and generous is the way everybody should behave, no matter their ethnicity.

“We’re in a World Series,” Heyward, 27 and a native of Georgia, said. “I know I’m an African-American, so I go represent the best way I can as a person with my teammates and my friends and in terms of the organization because you know you’ve got a lot of different things from a lot of different people and a lot of people are watching. That’s the bottom line. Just treat people how you want to be treated and go from there.”

For reliever Edwards, 25 and a native of Prosperity, South Carolina, his place in Cubs history is humbling.

“It’s pretty awesome,” he said. “We’ve seen Robinson come through, and I’m not saying we’re just like him, but…me and Dex and J-Hey and Addison—this is a great thing to have on our resume.”

Edwards is aware enough of the moment, both playing in his first World Series and understanding the social significance of it, that he plans to keep the cleats he wears whenever he makes his first appearance. In fact, he figures he’ll probably take a few other things home for his archives too because “this doesn’t happen to everybody.”

He’s thought about the timing of this moment and the social forces at work as a backdrop.

“Back home, of course, they put up the Black Lives Matter posts,” Edwards said. “But now everybody at home is putting up my picture on Facebook and social media because it’s something positive.

“Black Lives Matter—everybody is thinking that’s a negative. This is something positive that people can hang on to.”

He figures the kids back in his hometown can benefit from his experience because “if they see somebody from home doing it, it gives them more confidence.”

As Russell said: “It’s absolutely meaningful to us, to our families and, obviously, to our bloodline. I think our ethnicity, we wear it on our shoulders. Whenever you get around a group of people that come from so many different backgrounds, you have to be rooted a little bit, I think, whenever it comes to your ethnicity.”

And so as they step on to the Wrigley Field lawn and move just a bit deeper into Cubs lore, this is one of the most significant steps yet.

“Sports itself has a way of bringing a lot of injustices to the forefront,” Williams, 78, and a native of Whistler, Alabama said. “When you look on the field and you see African-Americans, you see whites, you see Italians, you see all races of people out on the baseball field, and that’s why it helps so much to bring about justice in this world.”

Recently, Williams said he watched the film 42, the biopic of Robinson’s life story. In it, there is a scene in Cincinnati in which Pee Wee Reese walks over and throws his arm around Robinson in a show of support as the fans showered him with racial taunts and other epithets.

It reminded him of his own Hall of Fame induction in 1987 and after, when, he said, “I used to go to the Hall of Fame, and I wanted to find Pee Wee Reese. And when I found him, I would put my arms around him just like he did to Jackie Robinson. And it gave me a great thrill.”

Yeah, as Williams said, it is great to see. Both the Cubs in the World Series and doing it in living, vivid color.

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

Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.

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The Chicago Cubs were flat as could be in Game 1 of the World Series, but the National League champions struck back with a statement in Game 2, tying up the Fall Classic with a convincing 5-1 win over the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday.

And now that both sides have a victory under their belt, the scene will shift to Wrigley Field as the Cubs seek to protect home field and inch closer to their first world championship since 1908. 

But before breaking down how viable a Cubs lead will be with Game 3 on Friday fast approaching, here’s a rundown of when and where you can catch all of the action. 

Preview and Prediction

Fresh off a postseason pitching performance for the ages, Kyle Hendricks will return to the mound Friday night and try to replicate the effort that allowed the Cubs to clinch the pennant in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series versus the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

In the win, Hendricks tossed 7.1 innings of two-hit ball to give the Cubs all the cushion they needed to set up a showdown with the Indians. 

And if his performance during the playoffs has been any indication, he’ll keep things rolling along Friday night. 

The MLB ERA leader has made three home starts in the 2016 playoffs, allowing a meager nine hits and three earned runs in 16.1 innings en route to posting a 1.65 ERA.

Cleveland will counter with Josh Tomlin, who is 2-0 with a 2.53 ERA to this point in the postseason. And considering it’s been 13 days since he last pitched, the righty should have plenty of juice at his disposal against Chicago’s power-packed lineup. 

Based on Tomlin’s approach against the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox, MLB.com’s Mike Petriello noted the 32-year-old will likely lean on his curveball to keep the Cubs off balance. 

“The only two times in Tomlin’s career that he’s thrown the curve more than 30 percent of the time came in his two 2016 postseason starts—his two most recent starts—against powerful Boston and Toronto lineups,” Petriello wrote. 

Furthermore, Petriello emphasized just how much Chicago struggled against breaking pitches this year: “The Cubs have just a .201 average (the eighth-lowest) on curves, and if you’re now rightfully thinking that you only worry about exit velocity and average when contact is made, well, Chicago had a 32.1 percent contact rate when swinging at curves—which is the lowest in the majors.”

Those numbers should scare Chicago, but if manager Joe Maddon’s club employs the same disciplined strategy against Tomlin that allowed the Cubs to solve Clayton Kershaw in Game 6 of the NLCS, the NL champs could be in good shape. 

Factor in that the Cubs will have a raucous home crowd behind them, and they should be feeling good about their chances of taking a 2-1 series lead. 

“They’re probably just as excited if not more excited than we are to see that game played there,” Ben Zobrist said of the Wrigley faithful, according to the New York Times‘ James Wagner. “It’s been a long time, and they’ve been waiting patiently. They deserve to have these games played there at a Wrigley.”

Prediction: Cubs defeat Indians 4-2 in Game 3.

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It only feels right that the 2016 World Series is already a back-and-forth affair, considering the history hanging in the balance.

The Cleveland Indians struck first in Game 1 behind a gem from Corey Kluber and dominant bullpen pitching from Andrew Miller and Cody Allen. The Chicago Cubs bounced back in Game 2 after Jake Arrieta took a no-hitter into the sixth inning.

Now Cleveland is three wins away from winning its first title since 1948, while the Cubs are three wins away from shedding their “Lovable Losers” moniker and capturing their first championship since 1908.

With that in mind, here is a look at the remaining games, as well as predictions for each team. The schedule is courtesy of MLB.com, and ticket information can be found at ScoreBig.com.

Remaining World Series Schedule

Breakdown and Prediction

The first thing that jumps out about the pitching matchups is the fact Cleveland will be using a starter on short rest every game after Friday’s contest.

Indians manager Terry Francona talked about using that strategy, per the Associated Press (via USA Today): “We tried to look at our team and how we best set up, and what’s in our best interest to win four games before the Cubs do, and that’s how we came to this conclusion.”

There is a reason the Indians are predicted to win Game 4 in Wrigley Field—Kluber. He already left the Chicago hitters helpless in Game 1 with six shutout innings, and he preserved his freshness for Saturday by throwing only 88 pitches in the process.

The Indians have the perfect combination of six innings from Kluber, two innings from Miller and a save from Allen when their ace starts the game. That will show up once again in Game 4.

Kluber has been essentially unhittable in the postseason with a sparkling 0.74 ERA in four starts. The the Cubs will want to do everything in their power to prevent a Game 7 in Cleveland with the 2014 American League Cy Young Award winner on the hill.

However, Cleveland’s advantage in the starting-pitching matchups begins and ends with Kluber.

Josh Tomlin finished with a pedestrian 4.40 ERA this season, although he has been impressive in the playoffs with just three earned runs allowed in 10.2 innings of work. That formidable stretch will end against a powerful Chicago lineup that has 28 combined runs in its last five games, which includes a shutout loss in the contest against Kluber.

Trevor Bauer is the other Cleveland starter, and Chicago already knocked him around once with six hits and two walks in 3.2 innings. He limited the damage to two earned runs, but that is not a strong enough performance when squaring off with the Cubs rotation.

That Chicago starting staff as a whole finished with the best ERA in baseball by a wide margin this year. Its 2.96 ERA was well ahead of the second-place Washington Nationals, who checked in at 3.60.

Fred Huebner of ESPN 1000 in Chicago thinks the rotation will prove to be the difference moving forward in this World Series:

Kyle Hendricks is next on the docket for Chicago. His confidence should be at an all-time high after he threw 7.1 scoreless innings and allowed just two hits in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series. He outdueled the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw and proved his overwhelming effectiveness at Wrigley Field once again.

According to ESPN.com, Hendricks finished with a 1.32 ERA and .201 batting average against in 95.1 innings in the Windy City this season.

Jon Lester is another Cy Young Award candidate alongside Hendricks, and he won’t match up against Kluber this time after he allowed three earned runs in 5.2 innings in Game 1.

Despite the lackluster outing, it is wise to trust the southpaw’s track record. He has a 2.60 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in 20 postseason appearances for Chicago and the Boston Red Sox. Lester also is a battled-tested veteran who has delivered on some of the biggest stages of his career. He sports a head-turning 1.35 ERA and 0.938 WHIP in four World Series starts, per Baseball Reference.

The Cubs will move from two Cy Young candidates to the 2015 National League Cy Young winner when Arrieta takes the ball again in Game 6. He already proved he can baffle the Cleveland lineup with Wednesday’s performance when he allowed just one earned run and two hits in 5.2 innings.

John Lackey squaring off with Kluber in Game 4 is not an ideal matchup for Chicago (even if Lackey has a 3.26 ERA in 25 career postseason appearances), but the team’s overall depth in the starting rotation is one reason it won an MLB-best 103 games this year.

It is also the reason the Cubs will lift the World Series trophy after six games in this series.

Prediction: Cubs in six

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The Chicago Cubs bounced back from an abysmal Game 1 performance to beat the Cleveland Indians 5-1 on Wednesday, leveling the 2016 World Series 1-1 as it heads to Wrigley Field.

Earning a road win is critical for both teams, as each was among the best in the majors while playing at home. Cleveland was tied for the top home record in the American League with the Texas Rangers at 53-28, while the Cubs led MLB at 57-24. Chicago did its part in stealing a road victory, so now the Indians will have to do the same to stay alive in the Fall Classic.

With two games in the books, let’s take a look at the updated television and live-stream schedules for the rest of the 2016 World Series.

After Cleveland took the series opener with great pitching and timely hitting, the roles seemed to reverse Wednesday night. 

Jake Arrieta nearly matched Corey Kluber’s performance in the previous game, with the Chicago starter going 5.2 innings while allowing only two hits and one run. Kluber may have been slightly better in Game 1, going 6.0 innings with four hits and no runs allowed, but Arrieta got off to a historic start, per SportsCenter:

The Cubs’ bats also woke up. After going 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position in Game 1 to Cleveland’s 2-for-9, Chicago went 3-for-12 Wednesday to the Indians’ 0-for-4. This resulted in RBI from four different Cubs in the win.

Another major reason why this series is tied is the re-emergence of Chicago’s Kyle Schwarber.

After missing practically the entire regular season with a knee injury, Schwarber battled back in his rehabilitation to make a surprising appearance on Chicago’s World Series roster, and the team’s faith in the 23-year-old is paying off. Through two games, Schwarber is 3-for-7 with two RBI and a pair of walks, generating two runs in Wednesday’s win.

His teammate Kris Bryant, who could be the National League MVP this season, raved about Schwarber’s play so far, per CSN Chicago’s Cubs Talk:

However, per Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, it’s possible Schwarber could be back in the outfield sooner rather than later. Schwarber has only been cleared thus far to hit and run the bases but not to play the outfield. He has already served as the designated hitter through two games, but the team wants to be cautious about rushing him back into the outfield just six months removed from serious knee surgery. 

Rosenthal reported that Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein will consult team doctors Friday, but Epstein said Schwarber will get a chance to impact the game in some capacity during the three-game stretch at Wrigley Field.

“He’s got tremendous strength and flexibility in the knee, as demonstrated by what he’s done out there,” Epstein said. “We’ll see. If he does end up playing out there, we’ll make sure he’s smart about it. If he doesn’t, we’ll put him in a big spot (as a pinch hitter) to take one of the most important at-bats of the game.”

Having Schwarber in the lineup is critical to helping a Cubs offense that has failed to establish any consistency this postseason. He’s been the best hitter for the team through two games this series, and one has to believe Chicago will do everything it can to get him on the field at Wrigley without jeopardizing his future.

For Cleveland, a young star of its own is making some big noise this postseason.

Francisco Lindor continues to be the team’s best position player, making an impact at the plate, on the basepaths and in the field. He is hitting 3-for-7 in this series with a double, walk and stolen base, which continues his terrific overall 2016 playoff numbers of a .342 average with four RBI.

The 22-year-old credited his teammates for his success when speaking before Game 2, per Cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes:

I think it has to do with my teammates. Michael Brantley, Mike Napoli, Jason Kipnis, Roberto Perez and Jose Ramirez—all of them. 

We’ve kept that same mentality in the clubhouse, in the dugout and on the field since day one. I’m just trying to do the exact same thing since day one, just somehow get on base. Just find a good pitch to hit and get on base. If I don’t get on base, I just try to find a way to help the team win that day.

Cleveland will need Lindor to pace the offense in Game 3, as the Indians have a difficult matchup.

Kyle Hendricks, who led the majors with a 2.13 ERA in the regular season, will take the hill against Josh Tomlin, which seems to favor the Cubs on paper. Tomlin was a decent 13-9 this season with a 4.40 ERA, and he has been good this postseason with wins in both of his starts for 2.53 ERA in 10.2 innings.

However, Hendricks has been excellent all year. He went 16-8 in the regular season, and through three postseason starts, the 26-year-old has allowed just three runs in 16.1 innings.

Chicago seems to have the edge in pitching in Game 3, but Cleveland has proved people wrong all season as it sits in this position despite dealing with a slew of injuries. Thus, it looks like this could be a close, exciting contest in Wrigley’s first World Series game since 1945.

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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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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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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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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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