Liriano v Wood

Great matchup this afternoon between aces Francisco Liriano (16-7, 2.92) and Travis Wood (9-11, 3.05). The Cisco Kid is spotty as a road warrior, but at PNC Park, he's gone 8-1 with a 1.21 ERA while limiting hitters to a .185 BA Against the Cubs, he's is 3-1 with a 1.88 ERA in four career starts.

Wood's last outing was a 2-0 whitewash of the Reds. He's 4-5 with a 3.40 ERA in nine career appearances (eight starts) against the Pirates, but this year he's surrendered just one earned run in 12 innings, striking out 10 and walking four versus Pittsburgh. Nothin' like a showdown between two lefty gunslingers in September. The last time the pair hooked up was in June, with The Cisco Kid coming out on top 2-0.

The game begins at 1:35 and will be aired by WGN, Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

Pirate lineup: Jose Tabata LF, Jordy Mercer SS, Andrew McCutchen CF, Marlon Byrd RF, Gaby Sanchez 1b, Pedro Alvarez 3b, Tony Sanchez C, Neil Walker and Francisco Liriano P.

Holy Moly, the Sanchez boys are in the lineup.

Cub lineup: Starlin Castro SS, Darwin Barney 2b, Anthony Rizzo 1b, Donnie Murphy 3b, Junior Lake CF, Welington Castillo C, Darnell McDonald RF, Brian Bogusevic LF and Travis Wood P.

• Travis Sawchik of the Tribune Review has everything you want to know and more about the Bucs' aggressive defensive posture. He covers its genesis to implementation in the minors to acceptance at the MLB level.
• Starling Marte may be in the lineup as early as Monday.
• Gerrit Cole has 17 starts; in nine, he's given up two or fewer runs, including all three September outings.
• Pittsburgh passed the two million mark in attendance last night. They've drawn 2,007,204 fans through the turnstiles this year, the second time in PNC Park history the team has topped 2M. The game average is 27,877. That ranks the Bucs' raw numbers 19th in MLB, and 15th in percentage of seats filled at 72.7%.