Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night (baseball).
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Ben Zobrist, 2B
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- Addison Russell, SS
- Mike Montgomery, P
The Cubs have a very difficult pitching matchup tonight, with Jacob deGrom, one of the toughest pitchers in baseball, going for the Mets. deGrom has been filthy this season, with a ton of strikeouts, fewer than average walks, a small batting average against, and hardly any hard contact.
And while he does technically have more of a weakness against left-handers than righties, he’s so good against both that the best you can call it is less of a strength:
Verus Righties: .226 wOBA
Versus Lefties: .251 wOBA
See? Not a very soft-landing for hitters from either side of the plate, but definitely advantage lefties. Thus, Jason Heyward is once again in the lineup and batting second. This will be Heyward’s fifth consecutive start, which is certainly a lot for him, given the way things were trending, but he has collected eight hits during that stretch and has the peripherals to support a better performance. To be sure, he went 0-5 with two strikeouts last night, but maybe he’ll have some more luck against deGrom – after all, it has happened before:
#Cubs vs deGrom: Heyward 4-for-14, Rizzo 4-for-13, Russell 2-for-8, Bryant 3-for-7, Contreras 0-for-6, Zobrist 0-for-6, Baez 0-for-4
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) June 2, 2018
Kyle Schwarber and Albert Almora fill out the rest of the outfield, while the red hot Ben Zobrist covers second base for Javy Baez. Willson Contreras is back in their behind the plate, and everyone else un-discussed is in their usual spot.
A win tonight wins the series, but deGrom is very good. As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ post closer to game time (6:15 CT).