As the Cubs look to eliminate the Cardinals in the NL Central tonight, the Cardinals hope to preserve their shot, while continuing to more realistically aim at the second Wild Card.
Here’s the lineup for tonight’s game:
- Jon Jay, CF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Ben Zobrist, LF
- Addison Russell, SS
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Javy Baez, 2B
- Jon Lester, P
Luke Weaver is on the mound for the Cardinals tonight, and while we’ll get into his season-numbers with the Cardinals a bit more closely later, it’s worth pointing out his reverse splits this season:
Versus Righties: .282 wOBA
Versus Lefties: .225 wOBA
So, yeah, while Weaver, a righty, has been tougher on lefties … he’s been pretty darn tough on righties too. At least this matchup gives us the fun, thought-proving question of what happens when a reverse-split lefty (Jon Jay) steps in against a reverse split righty (Weaver). The answer: chaos.
Other than that, it’s Ben Zobrist out in left field and Jason Heyward out in right, as Ian Happ and Kyle Schwarber both avoid the tough matchup. That, in turn, makes way for Javy Baez and Addison Russell up the middle, and no other surprises elsewhere.
As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ closer to game time (7:15 CT).