NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Cubs return home from an 0-6 road trip, and now face the St. Louis Cardinals. It’s either the recipe for a great turnaround weekend or an extended, slow motion nightmare.
Cheers!
Here’s who heads out there for the Cubs today:
- Ian Happ, CF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Ben Zobrist, 2B
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Miguel Montero, C
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Addison Russell, SS
- John Lackey, P
Well, then. You can’t say Joe Maddon isn’t trying something, with moving parts all over that lineup.
Against righty Lance Lynn, the Cubs stick with plenty of lefties, but the order receives a significant change up, with Ian Happ leading off, Ben Zobrist cleaning up, and Kyle Schwarber all the way down in the seven spot.
I’m on board for whatever at this point – especially moving Schwarber down so the he can recalibrate – but with Happ’s recent contact issues, I do wonder if giving him even more exposure is the right move. Then again, Maddon has said before that he likes to move guys up to the first spot sometimes to change up their mindset, so maybe it will help Happ. (Though I’m not entirely sure mindset is the reason he’s not able to handle high fastballs with his swing right now.)
We’ll see how this one plays. Either way, I’m ready to see it in action. Lynn has dominated righties this year, but lefties have abused him to the tune of a .260/.356/.524 line. He’ll face six of them today.
As usual, we’ll have your Pre-Gamin’ closer to game time (1:20 CT). In the meantime, make sure you check out today’s loaded Bullets and the big sale at Fanatics:
Heads up: a whole bunch of Cubs gear just flipped to sale at Fanatics – https://t.co/ZJ6TVDVLms pic.twitter.com/aznz18LeoS
— Brett Taylor (@BleacherNation) June 1, 2017
