With a win this afternoon, the Cubs can improve their winning streak to a season-long six games, sweeping the White Sox in the process.
Here’s how they’ll line up.
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Ben Zobrist, RF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Willson Contrereas, C
- Javy Baez, 2B
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Addison Russell, SS
- Ian Happ, CF
- Kyle Hendricks, P
First things first, yesterday, Jesse Rogers pointed out that there were only two spots in the batting order Javy Baez hadn’t yet been placed:
Javy Baez will lead off for the Cubs on Saturday making him the sixth different player to bat at the top for them this season. It also means Baez has started in every position in the order save 5 and 9. He'll play third base while David Bote starts at… https://t.co/0INt0JDX3v
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) May 12, 2018
And today, he knocked one of those off his list. And you know what, I think it’s probably on purpose. Why? Well, for one, Joe Maddon loves going lefty/righty/lefty as much as possible, but he stuck Kyle Schwarber one spot lower than usual and left Willson Contreras (R) and Javy Baez (R) back-to-back.
And for another, sure, Contreras and Javy are both hot right now, but so is Schwarber and today’s starter, Lucas Giolito, is pretty close to split neutral for his career while having been weaker against lefties this season. So, yeah, on a normal day I think Schwarber bats fifth.
Elsewhere, as promised, Ben Zobrist is leading off against a righty and Ian Happ, not Albert Almora, is out in center.
As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ closer to game time.