The Cubs and Nationals will play a winner-takes-all Game 5 tonight at Nationals Park.
Here’s the lineup for that contest:
- Jon Jay, LF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- Addison Russell, SS
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Javy Baez, 2B
- Kyle Hendricks, P
So in their second attempt against Gio Gonzalez, the Cubs have made two notable changes to the lineup card:
First: Jon Jay is in. Last time around, the Cubs stuck Ian Happ in left field, batting eighth, but he’ll sub out in favor of Jay, who also takes over the leadoff spot for Albert Almora. All things considered, this strikes as the right plan. Yes, Gonzalez is pretty brutal against lefties, but remember Jon Jay is a reverse split guy, himself, so that’s not necessarily the end of the world.
Second: the Cubs have subbed Jason Heyward in for Ben Zobrist out in right field. Although Zobrist as a lefty probably presents a notable offensive improvement over Heyward, he’d bat right-handed tonight, and he just hasn’t had it from that side of the plate this year. So, the Cubs are going with their all-defense outfield, hoping the rest of the order locks things down.
Pretty much everything else is business as usual, and we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ later.