NEWSLETTER
[I was just about to publish this bad boy when the game got postponed. So, well, here’s the Pre-Gamin’. But, you know, the game has been postponed. Makeup is Monday, September 28 at 7:05pm CT. Late season playoff implications for an interleague game, eh?]
Hopefully the Cubs are over any kind of hangover from one of the worst types of losses you can have (go down early, come back, and then lose it late on a series of screw-ups). If the offense found Edinson Volquez troublesome, though, they’ll get no quarter from nasty young righty Yordano Ventura.
Tsuyoshi Wada gets his third start, and you can mark him down now for no more than five or six innings, probably. The thinking seems to be: let him get through the lineup twice, and then get him out. That’s certainly in line with Wada’s performance last year, and it has worked so far. The bullpen, however, will have to be ready to do much more than it did yesterday.
Kendrys Morales gets the extremely rare defensive start at first base, so, you know, bunt the ball to first, boys.
That all assumes the game gets in. It’s supposed to be a nasty evening in Chicago, intermittently rainy, consistently cold, and very windy. Early projections say it’ll be a good day to pitch.
Game Info
Kansas City Royals (29-18) at Chicago Cubs (25-22), 6:15 CT on FOX (pretty sure you can’t see these weekend FOX broadcasts on MLB.tv).
Game Thread and Series Preview
Your game thread is down there in the comments, so have fun.
The Series Preview lives here.
Starting Pitchers
Yordano Ventura (4.64 ERA, 4.31 FIP, 3.71 xFIP; 2.53 K/BB)
versus
Tsuyoshi Wada (2.70 ERA, 3.91 FIP, 2.43 xFIP; 5.00 K/BB)
Kansas City Royals Lineup
1. Alcides Escobar, SS
2. Omar Infante, 2B
3. Lorenzo Cain, CF
4. Kendrys Morales, 1B
5. Alex Gordon, LF
6. Sal Perez, C
7. Alex Rios, RF
8. Christian Colon, 3B
9. Yordano Ventura, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. Dexter Fowler, CF
2. Kris Bryant, 3B
3. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
4. Starlin Castro, SS
5. Miguel Montero, C
6. Jorge Soler, RF
7. Chris Coghlan, LF
8. Tsuyoshi Wada, P
9. Addison Russell, 2B
