Between them, tonight’s hurlers have 76 years, 3832 innings pitched, 667 starts, and ten different teams. But despite their decades in the game, Charlie Morton and Jose Quintana have only squared off twice before tonight: on June 16, 2015, when they were members of the Pirates and White Sox, respectively, and on August 23, 2023, when they wore their current uniforms. In each of those previous matchups, Charlie’s team won by shutout: 3-0 to the Pirates, 7-0 to the Braves.

Nice.

Jose Quintana was something of an underrated ace with the White Sox, capped by an All-Star campaign in 2016; Chicago traded him crosstown at the following trade deadline and got back Dylan Cease and Eloy Jimenez, a pretty extraordinary return. But he turned 28 that year, and he’s been more of a journeyman since then. Since 2017, Quintana has generally been a league-average pitcher (ERA- of 99); and he has battled injuries of late, with surgeries in both 2020 and 2023, so he’s only pitched 884 2/3 innings over those eight seasons.

By contrast, since 2017, Charlie Morton has an ERA- of 84; he was an All-Star in 2018 and 2019, and he finished third in the Cy Young race in the latter year. Over the past eight seasons, he has 1103 1/3 IP, the equivalent of a season and a half more innings.

And Quintana’s last start on May 3 was possibly the worst of his career. He gave up eight runs on ten hits while recording just eight total outs. By the time he was knocked out in the third inning, he had a Game Score of 7. (The only other time he ever had a single-digit Game Score was April 19, 2015, a few months before he faced Uncle Charlie, when he gave up nine runs in four innings.)

Anyway, this shouldn’t be a complete ball-spike of a game preview. Quintana’s exactly the kind of crafty lefty who gives us more fits than I’d like, and this offense is still struggling to click, and Charlie’s capable of looking magical on one pitch then hanging the next. So anything could happen.

But I’m not sorry we’re at Citi Field. Last year, our team had an .890 OPS at Citi, compared to just .858 at home. For decades, our biggest bats have hit like kings in Queens.

Ububba, I hope you’ll get a chance to cheer on our lads in person! Hope we can get a dispatch from the ground. I think this trip could be just what the doctor ordered for our slumping sluggers.