NEWSLETTER
Not sure this series will be quite as incredibly amazingly perfect as the first one – there are four games, after all – but, hey, with this crew, you never know.
The Cubs face righty Rubby De La Rosa tonight, against whom they had a particularly fun game last year at Wrigley Field, which featured Kris Bryant’s longest homer of the year. That doesn’t mean they’ll have the same success this year, of course, but at least they’ve already had some good looks at him.
De La Rosa will be pitching to old friend Welington Castillo, which means the DBacks have a nice extra bat in the middle of the lineup, but, in theory, won’t be stealing or saving too many strikes tonight. It could behoove the Cubs to be extra patient. De La Rosa has great stuff, though, for what it’s worth. So he’ll get some Ks tonight.
[adinserter block=”1″]Arizona leadoff hitter Jean Segura’s OBP the last two seasons: .289, .281.
Arizona second hole hitter Nick Ahmed’s OBP the last two seasons: .275, .233.
Definitely the guys I’d want setting the table for Paul Goldschmidt.
As for the Cubs, John Lackey makes his debut, and he’ll do what he does: pound the zone with hard, moving fastballs, and occasionally mix in something offspeed. If he’s doing well, he won’t walk anyone, he’ll get a lot of groundballs, and he’ll get a few strikeouts, too.
It’ll be another late night. So let’s have some fun. And I don’t want to alarm you, but if the Cubs don’t win tonight, then they can’t go 162-0 this year. So, you know. No pressure.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (2-0) at Arizona Diamondbacks (1-2), 8:40 CT on CSN+, 670 The Score.
Game Thread and Series Preview
Your game thread is down there in the comments, so have fun. But keep it “safe for work” type fun, all right?
The Series Preview lives here.
Starting Pitchers
Cubs: John Lackey (R)
versus
Diamondbacks: Rubby De La Rosa (R)
Arizona Diamondbacks Lineup
1. Jean Segura, 2B
2. Nick Ahmed, SS
3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
4. David Peralta, RF
6. Welington Castillo, C
5. Jake Lamb, 3B
7. Yasmany Tomas, LF
8. Chris Owings, CF
9. Rubby De La Rosa, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. Dexter Fowler, CF
2. Jason Heyward, RF
3. Ben Zobrist, 2B
4. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
5. Kris Bryant, 3B
6. Kyle Schwarber, LF
7. Miguel Montero, C
8. Addison Russell, SS
9. John Lackey, P
