You have no idea how good it feels to be writing the intro to the first regular season lineup post of the year!
Later this morning, the Cubs are taking on the Marlins in Miami, and here’s the lineup for that contest:
- Ian Happ, CF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Addison Russell, SS
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Javy Baez, 2B
- Jon Lester, P
As expected (and by popular demand), it’s Ian Happ leading off and playing center field against the Marlins right-hander, Jose Urena, today. With the lefties, Kyle Schwarber and Jason Heyward, in left and right field, that means Albert Almora is the odd man out/on the bench, though that was mostly expected. With a lefty on the mound tomorrow and in game 4 of this series, we’re sure to see him start before the Cubs leave Florida.
Similarly, Javy Baez got the nod at second base today, which strikes me as a bit of a serious torch-passing. Although we knew Baez would draw far more starts there (at the expense of Ben Zobrist, who’s taking on more of a complementary role this season), with two lefties in this series, I thought we might see the switch-hitting Zobrist against the righties, or at least in there today.
In any case, this lineup is exactly the order we expected a few days, and it also, I’ll point out, has perfect lefty-right balance, including the pitcher. That’s neat.
As usual, we’ll have more on your pitching matchups and other game info in the Pre-Gamin’ a bit closer to game time (11:40 AM CT).