As far as MLB long-rooted rivalries go, only the Yankees-Red Sox and maybe the Dodgers-Giants could have a claim to top the Cardinals and Chicago Cubs. The two NL Central rivals are set to do battle in a three-game weekend series in venerable Wrigley Field starting with a matinee on Friday. Fans can stream the first two games of the series regionally via fuboTV (Try for free).

Series schedule, probables

Let's take a look at why this figures to be easily the most fun series of the weekend, even putting the rivalry aside. 

Both teams are going very well after poor starts

The Cubs started the season an awful 1-6 and alternated wins and losses to 3-8. Since then? They are 13-4, which is the best record in baseball during that stretch. In those 17 games, they've posted a plus-40 run differential, showing this isn't a fluke of a run at all. Baseball-reference.com's simple rating system -- which uses run differential and strength of schedule in a formula -- actually rates the Cubs as the best team in all of baseball. 

Third in that same rating system? The Cardinals. They didn't start quite as poorly as the Cubs, but 1-3 and then 3-5 isn't good. Since then, they've gone 17-6 and, yep, that's the best record in baseball in that stretch. As things stand, they've won 10 of their last 12 games and are a perfectly acceptable answer to the "who is the hottest team in baseball right now?" question. 

Big offensive firepower/star power

Both teams are among the league leaders in major offensive categories and look at the name-value stars in this thing. 

Javier Baez is playing like an MVP runner-up again, hitting .314/.352/.653 (155 OPS+) with nine doubles, a triple, 10 homers, 24 RBI, 25 runs, two steals and already 2.1 WAR. 

You know who else has 2.1 WAR (trailing only Cody Bellinger and Christian Yelich)? Baez's counterpart, Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong. It's possible he's leveling up to an All-Star here in his age-25 season. He's slashing .333/.393/.585 (159 OPS+) with 14 doubles and five homers. 

How about Marcell Ozuna? He's as hot as anyone in baseball and is returning to All-Star form this season with 10 homers, 29 RBI and a slugging-heavy 159 OPS+. 

Matt Carpenter isn't hitting, but we've seen him go crazy in Wrigley before. We've seen the kind of damage Yadier Molina can do in that ballpark, too. Now add Paul Goldschmidt to the Cardinals' side. 

The Cubs well-known duo of Bryzzo had a rough start to the season, but are both showing signs of turning it on. Anthony Rizzo is hitting .341/.451/.805 with five doubles, a triple and four homers in his last 11 games. Bryant's average is still lagging, but in his last 11 games, he's getting on base at a .400 clip with a .526 slugging, five doubles, two homers and eight RBI. 

More: Willson Contreras is hitting .301/.427/.663 with eight homers. Few players are more exciting than Harrison Bader. Jose Martinez is a professional hitter and David Bote has a nose for the clutch hit. 

And ... 

Fowler and Heyward are both hitting

Former Cubs hero Dexter Fowler had an acceptable-but-not-great 2017 with the Cardinals and horrific 2018. Right now he's hitting .313/.415/.425 and has been worth 1.2 WAR. He'll return to Wrigley to see his buddy Rizzo and this time he's earning his playing time. Hopefully he's over the illness that has sidelined him for the last four games at some point in the series. 

Former Cardinal -- it was only one year, but they won 100 games that season -- Jason Heyward had a pretty bad first three years with the Cubs with the bat. This year, though? Heyward is slashing .329/.438/.529 with five homers. 

Perhaps amazingly, compared to where we were in the spring, we likely won't have to hear much about their contracts during this series. 

Hicks is on quite a run

Cardinals closer Jordan Hicks was introduced to the baseball masses last season as the hardest thrower. Given that, seeing him post a 3.59 ERA, 1.34 WHIP and striking out less than a batter per inning didn't seem to line up. Shouldn't he be better, I kept wondering. 

He is now. 

Hicks had a rocky second out, blowing the game to the Brewers in the opening series, but since then has only allowed one run in 11 1/3 innings while striking out 14 and holding opposing hitters to a .091 batting average. He's really starting to settle into the dominant closer that his stuff suggests he should be. 

Word to the wise for the Cubs' offense, don't go into the ninth trailing. 

Cubs' bullpen appears fixed

The Cubs' bullpen was an utter disaster during the Cubs' first road trip. The starters and position players basically earned a 5-4 record, but the bullpen melted down three times and ensured the Cubs returned home with a 2-7 record. 

Once they returned home, things fell into place. Starting with April 8 and the home opener, everything has gotten better from the bullpen. It has posted an MLB-best 2.09 ERA in that span. 

Cubs starters have been great, but ...

Likewise, the Cubs' rotation has been excellent during this outstanding run. Again, starting with the home opener, the Cubs have an MLB-best 2.51 rotation ERA. Jon Lester has been outstanding and Cole Hamels has been very good. Neither is getting the ball this series, though. Jose Quintana is, and he's had a 1.69 ERA in his last four starts. 

The pesky little word that is "but" is in here, though, for a reason. Kyle Hendricks and Yu Darvish are starting the first two games of the series. Those have been the two weak links in the rotation, even when you include a Tyler Chatwood spot start. 

Hendricks had a dominant start against the Diamondbacks on April 19. Otherwise, he's given up 21 runs (15 earned) in 18 1/3 innings. Opposing offenses have scored nine first-inning runs against him with a .458/.500/.750 line against him. 

Darvish leads the NL with 22 walks. His command has been all over the place in every outing this season. In his last start, he gave up only one run on two hits in six innings, but he needed 110 pitches to do it, walked four and hit one. He loaded the bases with just one out in the first. And this was easily his best outing of the year. 

The Cubs need better out of Hendricks and Darvish if they want to win this series. 

Cardinals starters come in with a hot hand

Small samples and all, but ...

  • Friday starter Jack Flaherty worked seven scoreless innings last time out.
  • Saturday starter Michael Wacha has won his last two starts and really has only had one bad start this season. 
  • Sunday starter Adam Wainwright has also won his last two starts while allowing just three earned runs in 12 1/3 innings (2.19 ERA). 

They've got to be feeling strong heading into Wrigley to face off against a good offensive team. 

This is the class of the NL Central

The NL Central is one of the best divisions in baseball. The Reds are in last place at 13-18, but they started a miserable 1-8 and have been good since. The Pirates are in fourth place at an even 14-14. The Brewers are in third a game over .500. There's good balance here, but the Cardinals and Cubs stand above. Take note of the simple rating system I mentioned above. The Cubs have the best run differential in baseball on a per-game basis. The Cardinals have the second- best record in baseball (tied with the Rays, trailing the Twins by percentage points). These are arguably the two hottest teams in baseball. 

And they haven't yet played this season. The potential for fun in this series is off the charts. Any baseball-loving person should be watching.