The Cubs need only win one of these games this weekend. Perhaps today will be today.
And perhaps this will be the lineup to do it:
- Jon Jay, LF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Ben Zobrist, 2B
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- Alex Avila, C
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Javy Baez, SS
- Mike Montgomery, P
Today’s starter, Chase Anderson, has actually had reverse splits this season, with righties (.300 wOBA) hitting him slightly better than lefties (.279 wOBA). And in fact, the same is true for his career, but to an even larger extent: .349 wOBA v. Righties and .303 wOBA v. Lefties.
And yet I still don’t understand where the heck Kyle Schwarber is.
Schwarber is still better against righties than lefties himself, and this is, I think, the third time he’s sat against a righty in the last week or so (not to mention also sitting against a lefty swing starter with very little experience). He did get a pinch hit appearance recently (and I think he almost did again last night), but I’m starting to wonder if he isn’t working/playing through some minor injury or something.
In any case, Jon Jay leads off and plays left as Albert Almora jumps in and plays center. Jason Heyward is still in right, Alex Avila is behind the plate and El Mago continues to play short and bat eighth.
As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ closer to game time (3:05 CT).