THANK GOD.
With a lefty on the mound for the Marlins today, the Cubs are countering with Albert Almora at the top of their lineup – not Ian Happ – which means I will not be swimming anytime soon.
Then again, Almora doesn’t have as much power, right? Maybe I should just ….
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Albert Almora, CF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Addison Russell, SS
- Ben Zobrist, RF
- Javy Baez, 2B
- Kyle Hendricks, P
Beyond Almora, the Cubs lineup is fairly regular, with one notable difference, the lefty Jason Heyward is sitting in favor of the switch-hitting Ben Zobrist in right field. Obviously, getting another right-handed bat in there against Caleb Smith makes sense, but over the last two seasons, the Cubs were reluctant to pull Heyward at all, let alone this early in the season.
But given how well his game went yesterday and the fact that there’s another righty on the mound tomorrow, I’m very much in favor of this move. And I’m sure we’ll see Heyward as a late-game defensive replacement anyway. I doubt the Cubs stick with a strict platoon of Heyward this season, but that’s what they’re doing today.
As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ closer to game time (6:10 CT).