Today, the Chicago Cubs will go for five straight victories, and eight on the year. It has been an absolutely wild ride, so far, as the Cubs bats (and patience) continue to be relentless.
I’ll be at the game tonight, sitting somewhere in the bleachers, but I don’t know which side, just yet. Any opinions?
Here’s tonights lineup against the Reds:
- Dexter Fowler, CF
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Ben Zobrist, 2B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Kris Bryant, LF
- Tommy La Stella, 3B
- Miguel Montero, C
- Addison Russell, SS
- Jason Hammel, P
As I suspected on Twitter earlier today, Tommy La Stella grabs a start at third base – with Kris Bryant making the move to left field – at the expense of Jorge Soler. Although Soler will continue to draw the majority of the starts in left field (he started last night against Alfredo Simon who also struggles against lefties), tonight’s starter is appreciably worse against southpaws.
For his career, Iglesias has kept righties to a .187/.258/.356 slash line, whereas lefties have hit .287/.348/.422. So, the Cubs will throw four natural lefties plus two switch-hitters (capable of batting lefty) against Iglesias tonight. The ability to mix and match bats like that, in addition to boasting two starting switch-hitters is going to be a nightmare for any pitcher with significant splits all season long. And I love it.
Let’s go get win number 8.