CHICAGO -- With the Chicago Cubs’ starting rotation continuing to improve on the young season, manager Joe Maddon elected to not mess with a good thing on Saturday.

Tsuyoshi Wada will pitch in Sunday's game against the Royals. In two starts in 2015, he has a 2.70 ERA. AP Photo/Gregory Bull

With Saturday’s Cubs-Kansas City Royals game postponed because of rain, Maddon elected to not skip rotation newcomer Tsuyoshi Wada. The left-hander was moved from Saturday to Sunday’s afternoon game against the Royals, while Kansas City manager Ned Yost will do the same with his starter Yordano Ventura.

The Cubs' starting pitchers entered Saturday fourth in the National League with a 3.57 ERA. The impressive mark comes despite Jon Lester’s slow start and an early lackluster effort from Travis Wood that landed him in the bullpen.

In two starts, Wada has managed to post a tidy 2.70 ERA, and even though he has yet to record a decision, the Cubs are 1-1 in his starts. The lone defeat was a 2-1 heartbreaker to the Washington Nationals earlier this week.

Jason Hammel, who has quality starts in five of his past six outings, will now be moved to Monday’s series opener at Miami.

Of their 47 games this season, the Cubs’ rotation has recorded a quality start in 25 of them. They are 19-6 in those games, and 6-16 in games when their starter does not last at least six innings while allowing three earned runs or less.

While those won-loss totals are par for the course with a good start vs. a bad one, they underscore how good the Cubs’ staff has been in its quality starts. In those games, the Cubs are 13-2 with a 1.88 ERA.

The issue now, even as the rotation improves, is that the level of play has also increased. Sunday will be the Cubs fifth game in a stretch that features 11 of 14 games against teams that made the playoffs last season. The run includes seven games against the Nationals, two against the Royals and three against the Detroit Tigers.

If there is any positive in a rainy and gloomy day in late May, it is that the tough stretch against playoff opponents was reduced by one with Saturday’s postponement.

Saturday’s game won’t be made up until Sept. 28, the day before the Royals are set to open a three-game series across town against the White Sox. That Sept. 28 game, which will start at 7:05 p.m., will now be the Cubs’ last home game in the regular season.