The Cubs go for the series win today in a matinee against the Cardinals and righty Carlos Martinez, who has really struggled this year, especially against lefties (.351 wOBA, as opposed to just .201 against righties). The story’s been just about as dramatic for his career (.341/.269).
It’s no surprise, then, to see the Cubs stacking the lineup with lefties:
- Dexter Fowler, CF
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Kris Bryant, LF
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Ben Zobrist, 2B
- Tommy La Stella, 3B
- Miguel Montero, C
- Addison Russell, SS
- Jake Arrieta, P
Of the first seven batters Martinez will face today, the only one who’ll stand in the right-handed batters box is Kris Bryant. What a nice break for Martinez, eh?[adinserter block=”1″]
Jorge Soler sits in favor of Tommy La Stella (by way of Bryant in left field), which makes sense given the split mentioned above, though Soler has been scorching hot. He’ll probably be the first bat off the bench for the Cubs, assuming they need one at some point (never a sure thing in a Jake Arrieta start).
Hopefully this lineup does what has happened so often in Jake Arrieta starts this year: they blow up. Surely they didn’t use up all their offense last night, right?
Full Pre-Gamin’ comes closer to game time.