JFG Nation, the Cubs finally face the Indians tonight in what promises to be an epic World Series. Someone’s legacy is going to be forever rewritten. And you can read plenty of articles about the matchup and who has what edge, but I wanted to throw some other stats other there:

1. The Cubs lead the Indians in certain offensive category – runs, home runs, walks. The Cubs play like a heavy hitting team. However, the Indians lead the Cubs in hits, doubles, and double the Cubs in steals. You’re looking at a heavy swinging team vs. a hit/steal/small ball team.

2. They’re both in the World Series, but the Cubs have 90 million more in payroll. Cubs pitching spending alone quadruples what the Indians have spent. In fact, the Indians are in the bottom 3rd in spending across all baseball clubs.

3. Despite virtually no-name pitching, the Indians ERA is over a full run lower than the Cubs in the postseason. They’ve given up half the runs and struck out ten more batters.

What does this all mean? Not much really, except it seems really presumptuous that Vegas has the most likely outcome to be Cubs in 5. With the Indians having home field, I think this series is way closer than people think.

Me? For the Cubs, it’s all about Lester, Rizzo, and Fowler. Lester is the best left handed starting arm in the series and faces a mostly right handed Cleveland lineup. If he can lock up games 1 and maybe 5, the Cubs will have an easy time. The same goes for Rizzo and Fowler, the only left handed bats in the Cubs lineup facing the mostly right handed Indians rotation. Rizzo finally blew up at the end of the Dodgers series. He needs to keep that momentum up.

On the Indians side, it’s all about Francona. Can he keep this young Cleveland lineup from pressing, and not freaking out in the moment. The Indians big bats are Chisenhall, Kipnis, and Lindor – not exactly a murderer’s row. But someone Francona has them believing, and chugging out enough runs while their pitching shuts it down.

The Indians are underdogs for sure. I’d take almost every name in the Cubs lineup over the Indians lineup. But I’ll be annoying and hedge my pick on tonight’s game. If the Indians jump on Lester and win tonight, Indians in 7. If the Cubs take Game 1, Cubs in 6.

Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Today’s junk food: Trader Joe’s Boffo Bar & Quasar Bar!!

Trader Joe’s Boffo Bar & Quasar Bar were by the register when I visited my local TJ’s for the first time in a couple months. They placed them there so I would impulse buy it. WELL BRAVO, TRADER JOES. YOU WIN, OK? JUST TAKE MY MONEY.

The cashier described the Trader Joe’s Boffo Bar as “tastes like a Snickers” & Quasar Bar as “tastes like a Milky Way.” Bleh, Milky Way – GrubGrade knows what I’m talking about.

Trader Joe’s Boffo Bar & Quasar Bar are around 220-240 calories each. But no one really cares, do you? The taste is what’s important!

I bit into the Trader Joe’s Boffo Bar, and of course it was good – sweet nougat, quality chocolate, lovely caramel and nuts. How did it compare to Snickers, however? Well, I have to say, I actually think this was different than a Snickers – the pale nougat was way more chewy, fluffy, substantial than in a Snickers. It reminded me a LOT of the old Charleston Chew nougat.

Verdict: not as good as a Snickers, but if you’re a nougat fan, you’ll like this ratio more.

Trader Joe’s Quasar Bar was DELICIOUS. Here, the nougat was really really soft and had a great toffee flavor – nice and malty too. The darker chocolate played off of it well, and the caramel was perfectly stretchy. In a lot of ways, it cured what I am meh about when it comes to Milky Way – better chocolate, tastier nougat, thicker chocolate shell, high quality caramel. This was really really good!

Verdict: buy this every day of the weeek, twice on Tuesday.

Overall, I was shocked to like the Quasar bar more than the Boffo, but honestly both were really good. Go get some and tell me what you thought in the comments below.

PURCHASED AT: Trader Joe’s, Bethesda, MD

COST: $0.99 each

Sincerely,

The JFG