The Chicago Cubs are in control of their own fate. Win today and they’ll rise to .500 in the first half while winning their last series before the break. Lose, and, well, it’s not gonna be pretty.
Here’s today’s lineup for the first-half finale:
- Jon Jay, CF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Ian Happ, 2B
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Willson Contreras, C
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Addison Russell, SS
- Jon Lester, P
The Cubs are going with a lefty-heavy lineup this afternoon, as they take on the Pirates’ young righty, Jameson Taillon. Taillon’s actually been a bit tougher on lefties than righties this season, but the opposite is true for his admittedly brief big-league career.
In any case, the Cubs have five hitters batting from the left side of the plate today (not counting Jon Lester), which will probably work in their benefit. Kyle Schwarber is one of those lefties, and starts in his fourth straight game since returning from Iowa.
And hey, so far, so good:
Kyle Schwarber is hitting .300/.417/.700 since returning from Triple-A Iowa. So clearly it was a success and he'll end up winning the MVP.
— Michael Cerami (@Michael_Cerami) July 9, 2017
As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ closer to game time (12:10 CT).