NEWSLETTER
The Cubs played a wild one yesterday, but ultimately came out on top. Hopefully, they can again today.
Here’s the lineup for this afternoon:
- Ben Zobrist, RF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- Ian Happ, 2B
- Javy Baez, SS
- Jon Jay, LF
- Kyle Hendricks, P
Michael Wacha is on the mound for the Cardinals this afternoon, and while he’s a righty, he’s a reverse split righty this season:
Versus Lefties: .307 wOBA
Versus Righties: .327 wOBA
The same is true for his career, and so Joe Maddon has taken this opportunity to squeeze an extra righty into the lineup by ways of Albert Almora in center and Ben Zobrist in right field (though, he’ll probably bat left-handed anyway).
That means that Jason Heyward gets a much-needed day off, after playing quite a bit lately. We’ll have to dig deeper into his season soon, but it seems to me, like he’s making plenty of contact, as always, but is hitting for almost no power (also, unfortunately, like always). Ian Happ covers for Ben Zobrist at second, and Javy Baez continues to man short for Addison Russell.
As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ closer to game time (3:05 CT).
