Here it is: the roster of 25 guys who can play in the World Series, which starts tonight in Cleveland against the Indians.
Recognize anyone new?
That’s right, after a few days of fevered excitement (stacked upon the OF COURSE excitement of the World freaking Series), it’s happening: Kyle Schwarber is back.
Having rehabbed for six grueling months after a devastating knee injury in the first week of the season, Schwarber returns to the Cubs on the biggest stage, and there is an expectation that his lefty bat will be put right in there as the designated hitter. If so, here’s hoping he looks as good as he did when he first played at Progressive Field. (The Cubs won that game 17-0, by the way. I’d take that tonight.)
Setting aside the great story, it remains to be seen how effective Schwarber will actually be against some of the best pitching in baseball, having essentially not faced any for so long, and without the benefit of a Spring Training-like experience to ramp back up. [adinserter block=”1″]
Schwarber joins the roster in place of lefty Rob Zastryzny, who was added as an extra arm for the NLCS because of the Dodgers’ lefty-heavy offense. Zastryzny did not ultimately appear in the series.
The rest of the roster is the same as it was for the NLCS, which means 11 pitchers and 14 position players, with Tommy La Stella and Matt Szczur again the odd men out.
Pitchers (11):
Jake Arrieta
Aroldis Chapman
Carl Edwards Jr.
Justin Grimm
Kyle Hendricks
John Lackey
Jon Lester
Mike Montgomery
Hector Rondon
Pedro Strop
Travis Wood
[adinserter block=”2″]
Position Players (14):
Albert Almora Jr.
Javy Baez
Kris Bryant
Chris Coghlan
Willson Contreras
Dexter Fowler
Jason Heyward
Miguel Montero
Anthony Rizzo
David Ross
Addison Russell
Kyle Schwarber
Jorge Soler
Ben Zobrist