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Cubs, Mets meet for first time since NLCS

The Chicago Cubs and New York Mets meet for four games beginning Thursday. It’ll be the first time they’ve played since last season’s National League Championship Series, in which the hard-throwing Mets swept the upstart Cubs and advanced to the World Series.

And while this is very much a meeting of two of baseball’s most interesting clubs this season, it’s not simply the postseason rematch you might think. These teams have changed a lot since last October — heck, they’ve both changed a lot since June 1. We’re looking at you, Mets pitching elbows.

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You can see what happens when the Cubs and Mets meet again, right here on Yahoo Sports. The first two games of the series — Thursday night and Friday night — are the MLB Free Games of the Day. That means you can stream the game on Yahoo’s Sports Home, MLB index and video home and this very post. You can also find it in the newly updated Yahoo Sports app. First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. ET for both games. Local blackouts apply, per MLB rules.

MLB Free Game of the Day schedule for the week of June 27.
MLB Free Game of the Day schedule for the week of June 27.

Even Cubs skipper Joe Maddon hesitates to say this is truly a rematch, considering the paths these two teams are on this season. The Cubs, with the offseason additions of Ben Zobrist and Jason Heyward, are running away with their division, playing every bit like the World Series favorite they were at season’s start. After sweeping the Reds, they’re riding a three-game winning streak into Queens.

The Mets are in third place in the NL East, struggling with injuries and recently stuck in an offensive slump that’s led to a four-game losing streak. In the middle of that was a 23-inning scoring drought that ended with a meaningless two-run homer in the ninth inning of a 4-2 loss Wednesday night.

Maddon told reporters Wednesday he’s not assigning too much extra meaning to playing the team that swept the Cubs out of the postseason:

“What does it mean? It just means we’re playing the Mets four games in New York,” Maddon said. “Last year is last year, man. They beat us, they pitched really well. We had a great season, all of the above. Right now, I know they’re struggling a bit, they’ve had some injuries on their pitching staff, too. I don’t even think about connecting those dots from last year.”

This can especially be seen in Thursday’s game, in which the Cubs start John Lackey, who was with the St. Louis Cardinals last season. Though he’s been shaky lately, the addition of Lackey has helped fortify the Chicago rotation and make it the best in baseball this season by ERA.

The Mets, meanwhile, send Steven Matz to the mound. He’s one of the Mets pitchers dealing with elbow problems (yes, one of!) and was hit pretty hard in his last start, giving up six runs in 4.1 innings, against the Atlanta Braves of all teams. The Mets also don’t have Daniel Murphy anymore, whose home-run tear sunk the Cubs’ World Series hopes.

So, these four games, they won’t pick up where the NLCS left off. But they will pit two good teams against each one. One, in the Cubs, that’s trying to keep its hot streak going and the other, in the Mets, that trying to get back on track.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!