What It Means:

Similarly to the Cubs including Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks on their roster, Liriano gives the Pirates a backup plan should starter and ace Gerrit Cole struggle.

Cole has had a dominant season, posting a 3.16 xFIP, good for 14th best in baseball. He's been excellent over his last 5 starts, giving up just 9 earned runs over 34.1 innings pitched, striking out 34 and walking just 5 batters. Two of these last five starts came against the Cubs in which he totaled 13.1 innings pitched, 4 earned runs, and 16 strikeouts to just 2 walks.