[UPDATE: Stephen Strasburg WILL be starting today, so this lineup has been updated.]
The Cubs and Nationals were rained out yesterday, but both teams stuck with their originally scheduled Game 4 starters, so the lineup today looks very familiar:
- Jon Jay, CF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Ben Zobrist, LF
- Addison Russell, SS
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Javy Baez, 2B
- Jake Arrieta, P
Yep, that’s a carbon copy of yesterday’s lineup, without any exceptions. So if you want to re-read yesterday’s post, all of it still holds.
Here’s the short version though: Although you’d normally throw as many lefties into the lineup against Tanner Roark as possible (he has extreme lefty/righty splits), Jason Heyward is riding the bench, because he’s been particularly terrible against Roark (0-18) and Javy Baez is in there instead of Ian Happ or Tommy La Stella for the improved defense up the middle (and their ability to pinch hit later if necessary).
We have a lot more on Roark coming out soon, including more details on his splits, but suffice it to say the hope is that the lefties – Jon Jay, Anthony Rizzo, Kyle Schwarber, and Ben Zobrist – can pick up the offense today, because righties may have a tough time.
Me says stuff about Stephen Strasburg now.
As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ closer to game time (3:08 CT).
UPDATE: With Stephen Strasburg now officially starting, the Cubs have swapped out Kyle Schwarber for Jason Heyward, who hits Strasburg well, historically. With the cold conditions and wind blowing it, maybe losing Schwarber’s power up front isn’t the worst thing in the world, either.