Nats Tossed Away the Tension, Early Game 3 Lineup Rumors, and Other Bullets

Oct 08, 2017

Hey, for those of you who can’t get enough of my words/face, I’m going to be the CLTV Sports Feed tonight, so tune in at 6pm for my deep and prophetic thoughts about the Cubs, and a dress shirt that is almost certainly too tight on my neck.

Speaking of tight: the Nationals admit that the “tension” was building up before the 8th inning last night, given their inability to do anything offensively in the series to that point (ESPN). Because playing “tight” is an actual thing for many players, the idea that the “momentum” shifted with Bryce Harper’s homer is also likely an actual thing going forward – many of the Nationals hitters who were feeling that “tension,” and perhaps letting it impact them at the plate, will now feel a whole lot less than they would have if this series were 0-2, and headed to Chicago.

As it stands, the Cubs split in Washington. We all said it to ourselves going into this series: a split to open things up is not a bad outcome on the road. Then you get a chance to win the series without even having to head back to D.C. It’s just that, well, the way the Cubs split stings, given that they were just a handful of outs away from taking both games on the road.

Also: I did lots of ruminating on the bullpen decisions earlier today, so I won’t rehash it all here.

We’ve all got 24 hours to settle into a moderately happy place, though, and it looks like the Cubs are doing it by way of some good food and fun at Wrigley today:

Breakfast at Wrigley on the off day. https://t.co/qmMp0GwRJC pic.twitter.com/n7kF8osB3u

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) October 8, 2017

Pitch inside to @kschwarb12 at your own risk. pic.twitter.com/tszLu49Rtb

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) October 8, 2017

And the John Lackey-themed shirts the players are wearing today:

Lackey t-shirts! pic.twitter.com/mhi44odyOK

— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) October 8, 2017

Jon Lester looked pretty darn good last night, as the Nationals seemed to make it a priority to go for early contact against him, and they were not really squaring him up. He got 10 whiffs in the game, he was sitting at 92 mph and touching 94, and generally looked like he was able to do what he wanted throughout the start. It’s a shame it didn’t translate to a win, but it was definitely very nice to see.

Among many other things, Sahadev Sharma gets into the decision to stick with Ben Zobrist – both in the lineup, and then late in the game on defense last night – here at The Athletic. I would very much have wanted to see a defense-first lineup there in the outfield come the 8th inning, though I’m not going to say that Jon Jay or Leonys Martin or whoever else may have been out there would have been able to leap and catch Ryan Zimmerman’s ball. (They probably would have made a little better go of it than Zobrist did, though.)

This is certainly interesting:

Unless my reading between the lines is incorrect I think the one and only Tommy La Stella will be in the lineup tomorrow

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) October 8, 2017

Getting La Stella’s bat in there against Max Scherzer (who has been hilariously dominant against righties this year, but downright hittable against lefties) is a fantastic move, in my view. The tough part is figuring out just how you want to work it defensively. Second base is La Stella’s natural position, but are you willing to sit Javy Baez? Maybe so – you lose the incredible glove, but you also lose a righty-righty match-up against Scherzer that sure feels like a really bad one for Baez. The alternative is playing La Stella at third base and sliding Kris Bryant out to right field (with Jason Heyward manning center and Kyle Schwarber in left), but I have never really loved what I’ve seen from La Stella at third base.

You could also move Baez to third base if you like him better there than Bryant (and Bryant better in right than Ben Zobrist or Ian Happ (and/or Jon Jay in center, if Jason Heyward stays in right (stuff gets complicated, eh?))).

In the end, we’ll see if La Stella actually gets in there. His presence will require someone else you’d also like to see in there to sit (i.e., Jon Jay or Ian Happ or Javy Baez or Kyle Schwarber). Such is life with a very good bench.

I am very angry at myself for how much I loved Bryce Harper’s matter-of-fact bat toss after destroying the game-tying homer last night:

BRYCE HARPER BAT FLIP DOT GIF pic.twitter.com/vAFFB0Rk26

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) October 8, 2017

An unnamed Cubs scout is selling his/her World Series ring, which is a notable development because the Cubs went to some length to try to make sure that didn’t happen. I’ll be curious to see how this develops – if the Cubs will give their blessing (the ring is an incredible thing, but scouts don’t necessarily make a ton of money, so I’m not going to throw stones), or if they will try to block the sale. Also: how much will it go for? How much would you pay to have an actual Cubs World Series ring?

With a Cubs fan getting some attention for catching Anthony Rizzo’s homer, Jon Lester took the opportunity to set the record straight on his position on famous Cardinals fan, Nacho Man (NBC): “I need to clarify something about old Nacho Man here. I wasn’t saying nothing about him personally. I was saying the fact that people were asking for his autograph and taking pictures and him doing interviews …. I have no quarrel with Nacho Man.”

After the loss last night, tickets for the Cubs’ home NLDS games took a turn downward on StubHub:

Game 3 NLDS tix took a pretty sharp drop on StubHub after last night's Cubs loss – get yours if you were waiting: https://t.co/G6edrNlJ7I pic.twitter.com/rFEJWLliND
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) October 8, 2017

The non-playing lineup for Monday’s game:

#NLDS Game 3

National anthem: John Vincent
1st pitch: Billy Williams
Play ball: Mike Ditka
7th inning stretch: Bill Murray pic.twitter.com/oHsZ9ZzmZo

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) October 8, 2017

Everyone else good with this rule change:

New rules:

1st inning
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
9th

Cubs: 162-0, World Series champs.

— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) October 8, 2017

A bunch of Amazon’s devices are on sale today if you want to check out the set.

Hey, so after the Cubs DESTROY the Nats in Game Three tomorrow, the Bears will be hosting the Vikings for Monday Night Football. More importantly, it’ll be Mitch Trubisky’s NFL debut under center. So, if you’re a football fan, I strongly encourage you to follow our sister site The Ten-Yard Line on Twitter, and like it on Facebook:

written by

Brett Taylor

Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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