World Series Game 2: Cubs at Cleveland (Arrieta vs. Bauer)

Corey Kluber was nails, Jon Lester was finally hittable, and the Cleveland Indians smacked the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday to win Game 1 of the 2016 World Series.  The two sides will return to the field again on Wednesday for Game 2, and they'll do so an hour earlier than initial scheduled due to the threat of heavy rain in the Great Lakes region.

Trevor Bauer and his sliced-up pinky finger will take the mound for Cleveland, and he'll look to go much deeper into the game than the 0.2 IP he provided in his final start of the ALCS.  That, of course, wasn't due to his ineffectiveness as much as the stitches on his finger bursting in the midst of a bloody mess.  His ability to eat some quality innings may well be vital to Cleveland's cause in Game 2, since Andrew Miller threw 46 pitches on Tuesday and may not be available for much at all on back to back days.

The Cubs will send 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta to the bump, and if one particular Chicago Tribune writer who specializes in three word sentences and one sentence paragraphs is to believed, Arrieta has a lot to prove. Their resident co-ace has allowed 6 ER in his 11 IP this postseason, a far cry from the dominating 1.77 ERA he posted in 229 absurdly good regular season innings in 2015; that's on the heels of allowing 8 ER in 10.2 IP in the NLDS and NLCS in 2015, leading said Tribune aficionado to proclaim that Arrieta "can't get outpitched by a guy who's dumb enough to shred a pinkie while plugging in a toy drone."  Got it, dude.

Thanks to the aforementioned rain, first pitch in this one is set for just after 7 PM ET.  Turn on, tune in, and thread out.