The Cubs are coming off a sweep (the bad kind), but have to head out on the road to face three tough Mets starters, starting tonight with the right-hander Marcus Stroman. Here’s their lineup for Game 1 in New York.
Chicago Cubs Lineup:Â
- Jason Heyward, CF
- Nicholas Castellanos, RF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Javy Baez, SS
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Ian Happ, 1B
- Victor Caratini, C
- Addison Russell, 2B
- Yu Darvish, P
Stroman has been ridiculously tough on right-handed hitters this season, but has actually been quite hittable against lefties: .300/.349/.445 (.338 wOBA). Unfortunatly, the Cubs’ best lefty bat, Anthony Rizzo, is still out with a bad back.
In an ideal world, you’d have him in there at first base *and* Ian Happ’s switch-hitting bat elsewhere (like second base, for example), but not tonight. Instead, Happ is covering first and the righty Addison Russell is up the middle. Hopefully, that’ll be enough offense for Yu Darvish to come away with a win.
As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ post closer to game time (6:10 CT).