First pitch: Thursday, 8:05 p.m. ET
Line: San Francisco +150, Chicago -160, Total: N/A

The Cubs will be looking to win their fourth straight game when they host the Giants on Thursday.

The Giants are currently trying to catch the Dodgers for first place in their division, but they also need to hold off the teams fighting for a Wild Card spot behind them. Fortunately for San Francisco, the team seems to have found its footing. After a rough past few weeks, the Giants come into this game after having won four of their past six games. San Francisco has been getting some great outings out of its pitching staff, as the team has now allowed four or fewer earned runs in seven straight contests. The Cubs, meanwhile, have been the best team in baseball all year and are hoping to finish off the season strong. Chicago has the best record in the league and would love to ensure itself home-field advantage up until the World Series. Starting in this game will be RHP Jeff Samardzija (11-9, 4.00 ERA, 125 K) for the Giants and he’ll be attempting to outduel LHP Mike Montgomery (4-5, 2.60 ERA, 76 K) of the Cubs. Over the past two seasons, San Francisco is 22-6 against the money line after batting .333 or better over a three-game span over the past two seasons. Chicago, however, is 21-4 against the money line in home games with a hot bullpen whose ERA is under 3.00 over its past 10 games on the year.

The Giants are finally getting their act together and they’ll send Jeff Samardzija to the mound on Thursday. Samardzija will be feeling confident coming into this one, as he allowed no earned runs in seven innings of work against the Braves his last time out. The righty struck out six batters in that game and it was the fourth game in a row where he allowed three or fewer earned runs. The Giants would be more than happy with a quality start out of him on Thursday. Offensively, San Francisco could use some production out of C Buster Posey in this one (.296, 12 HR, 62 RBI). Posey has seen his average rise from .292 to .296 over the past 10 games and racked up two RBI in Wednesday’s win over the Diamondbacks. He has, however, gone homer-less since Jul. 16 and the Giants need him to start showing that he still has pop in that bat. Posey has had seasons with 20 homers or more in his career, but he’s likely going to miss that mark this season.

The Cubs are playing fantastic baseball right now and are hoping that Mike Montgomery can help earn them a victory on Thursday. Montgomery has been solid in each of his past two starts for the team, allowing just four earned runs in his past 9.1 innings of work. He threw 91 pitches in his start against the Dodgers on Aug. 26 and should be able to throw even more on Thursday. Offensively, 1B Anthony Rizzo (.293, 26 HR, 93 RBI) could be in for a big game in this one. Rizzo has crushed righties this season, hitting .311 with 18 homers and 62 RBI. Samardzija happens to be prone to giving up the long-ball, so it would not be shocking if Rizzo takes him deep on Thursday.