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Corbin Burnes will take the mound when the Milwaukee Brewers head to Chicago to take on Kyle Hendricks and the Cubs to kick off Opening Day.
Burnes, the reigning National League Cy Young winner, is an elite pitcher who throws his cutter around 53 percent of the time with his curve and slider around 27 percent. The league maintained only a .153 xwOBA on these off-speed pitches last season, but it does not stop there: Opponents held only a .249 xwOBA against his fastballs (cutter, sinker, four-seamer) with an average exit velocity of 86.1 mph.
His ability to avoid hard contact is superb.
After Burnes comes the duo of Devin Williams and Josh Hader, who are phenomenal on the back end. Williams is an elite setup man and Hader is arguably the best reliever in all of baseball. The lights will be out all game for the Cubs’ offense — even with the wind blowing out.
Meanwhile, Hendricks could very well keep the Cubs in the matchup, but he will need to log more innings than he would be used to this early in the year.
The Cubs also did not make any major improvements to their bullpen. Mychel Givens looks to be a decent acquisition, and David Robertson is there now, too. But if the Brewers get to Hendricks, it could be a long day for the Cubs’ relievers — and it won’t help that the Brewers bolstered their lineup with the additions of Hunter Renfroe and Andrew McCutchen.
Burnes should dominate this game. Even if he only goes five innings or so, Milwaukee has the backup in its bullpen. If the Brewers can hand the ball to Williams or Hader with a lead, they should lock it down.
The play: Brewers, -175.
