Happy Jose Bautista weekend.

The Toronto Blue Jays will honour the slugger during a ceremony Saturday welcoming him into the Level of Excellence alongside other names like Joe Carter, Roy Halladay, Carlos Delgado, Dave Steib and others.

And on Friday, the Jays open up the series against the visiting Chicago Cubs. Toronto is coming off a frustrating series split with the Cleveland Guardians, and will look to turn things around this weekend.

The Cubs are having a bullpen game tonight with Javier Assad taking the mound as the starter. He’s done so twice already this season going three innings against the LA Dodgers back in April, and throwing 3 and 2/3rd’s on August 5th against Atlanta. Across those, he’s allowed four earned runs off eight hits and four walks, while fanning six batters.

For the Jays, Jose Berrios will take the mound.

First pitch: 7:07 p.m EST —Apple TV, Sportsnet 650.

Toronto Blue Jays: 65-52, 7.0 GB, – WCGB, +57 DIFF.

Chicago Cubs: 59-56, 2.5 GB, 0.5 WCGB, +66 DIFF.

Moneyline: TOR -143; CHI +137.

Blue Jays to win the series -143
Series correct score Toronto 2-1 +130

TOR: Jose Berrios RHP – 9-7, 23 GS, 136.0 IP. 3.38 ERA, 123 ERA+, 3.88 FIP, 1.191 WHIP, 2.6 BB/9, 8.5 SO/9.

CHI: Javier Assad RHP – 1-2, 2 GS, 53.2 IP. 3.35 ERA, 137 ERA+, 4.51 FIP, 1.342 WHIP, 4.2 BB/9, 7.2 SO/9.

Tune into the latest edition of Blue Jays Nation Radio as the crew talks about the Jays’ latest series against the Cleveland Guardians, and Alek Manoah being sent to Triple-A.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.