Tonight, the Cubs begin their second four-game series against a first-place NL team in the matter of a week, with four against the Braves at Wrigley Field. In their first game, tonight, they’ll get the 28-year-old right-hander Julio Teheran, who’s having his best season since 2016.
Chicago Cubs Lineup:Â
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Javy Baez, SS
- Willson Contreras, C
- Jason Heyward, CF
- David Bote, 2B
- Carlos Gonzalez, RF
- Jon Lester, P
Teheran hasn’t had very significant splits this season, with lefties hitting him just slightly better than righties overall. Indeed, lefties (.343 OBP) are getting on-base at a MUCH higher clip than righties (.282 OBP) thanks to a huge gap in walk rates (13.7% vs. 9.6%), but righties (.378 SLG) are hitting for a lot more power than their lefty counterparts (.311 SLG). For what it’s worth, Teheran’s career numbers are far more favorable to lefties overall.
With that in mind, I’m not surprised to see Carlos Gonzalez back in there in right field. He’s basically the go-to in right field when there’s a righty on the mound, while just about every else is where you’d expect them to be. The only other real decision-point, second base, could have gone to someone like Daniel Deslcaso, but Bote has been out hitting him by about a mile (even against righties), so I’m glad to see Bote continue grabbing starts.
Among the notable past performances, Kyle Schwarber is 4-9 against Teheran with 1 double and 1 walk, while Anthony Rizzo is 4-20 with a double, a homer, SIX walks and five strikeouts lifetime. As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ post closer to game time (7:05 CT).
And be sure to stick around after the post-game for another episode of Outside the Ivy with Luis and I. Last time we were on, Ozzie Guillen jumped on and told us to quit crying. I was laughing, but I wasn’t happy.
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