A little surprise here and there for tonight’s 25-man Wild Card Game roster, but mostly as expected. First, the pitchers:
Jake Arrieta
Trevor Cahill
Justin Grimm
Kyle Hendricks
Jon Lester
Clayton Richard
Fernando Rodney
Hector Rondon
Pedro Strop
Travis Wood
Kyle Hendricks in the bullpen, eh? Well, it makes sense, since he can work well in short doses, and won’t be needed again for several days. Neil Ramirez, Zac Rosscup, and Carl Edwards, Jr. were among the guys who did not make the roster, but who could have.
Jon Lester is in there as the emergency starter, should – GOD FORBID – something terrible befall Jake Arrieta before the game, or in the first couple innings.
Pretty incredible to see Trevor Cahill, Fernando Rodney, and Clayton Richards’ rises, eh? From “scrap” pickups to important, playoff bullpen arms.
No surprises on the positional side, though:
Javier Baez
Quintin Berry
Kris Bryant
Starlin Castro
Chris Coghlan
Chris Denorfia
Dexter Fowler
Austin Jackson
Tommy La Stella
Miguel Montero
Anthony Rizzo
David Ross
Addison Russell
Kyle Schwarber
Jorge Soler
So that’s 10 pitchers and 15 position players, which is what we expected. The Cubs have so much versatility on the positional side that they’ll be able to mix, match, and substitute with relative abandon throughout the game. It’ll help.
Now we await the starting lineups.
Let’s go.