Well, this is the exact position in which I did not want to find ourselves this weekend: needing to beat Jacob deGrom just to earn a split against a stinky Mets team at Wrigley Freakin’ Field. Sigh. Here’s the lineup for the finale this afternoon.
Chicago Cubs:
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Javy Baez, SS
- Jason Heyward, RF
- David Bote, 2B
- Victor Caratini, C
- Cole Hamels, P
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
Jacob deGrom might be Jacob deGrom, but he’s also a right-handed pitcher. And like most right-handed pitchers, he’s been worse against lefties by a pretty wide margin this season:
Lefties: .248/.322/.394 (.311 wOBA)
Righties: .213/.244/.377 (.262 wOBA)
Now, a .311 wOBA isn’t really all that great, but compared to the .262 mark righties are putting up, it’s the best we can hope for. To that end, I’m a bit surprised that Carlos Gonzalez is not in the lineup this afternoon, with Albert Almora effectively taking his spot. Not only would his lefty bat seem to make more sense than Almora’s righty stick, but he’s 4-13 with two doubles a homer and 2 walks against deGrom for his career. Sigh. I’m sure there are #reasons (Brett’s guess: Gonzalez doesn’t quite have the bat speed anymore – which, yeah, actually that could make some sense).
Random note: Anthony Rizzo is 9-20 with a double, a homer, and 2 walks against deGrom lifetime. Let’s hope he’s ready to swing it today. As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ post closer to game time (1:20 CT).