Wow. I mean, we kinda anticipated half of this bomb from Joe Maddon, but not the other half.
Ben Zobrist will lead off for the #Cubs tonight, and Willson Contreras is back as well, Joe Maddon says.
— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) September 3, 2019
At long last, Ben Zobrist will actually play again with the Cubs – he felt like his swing wasn’t quite there yet, but I guess it’s there enough now to lead off(?) – and it’ll just be nice to see him out there. What to expect from him in production? How he’ll look? Eh. I don’t want to expect too much, but it’s not like the Cubs have gotten ANYTHING from their leadoff hitters this year, so it’s not like it’s going to hurt.
As for that second part, Contreras (hamstring) had been rehabbing at Iowa, whose regular season ended this weekend. The expectation was that he’d need a week of action before being ready, which would mean staying for a bit of their postseason and then returning to the Cubs this weekend in Milwaukee at some point. But apparently he’s ready to roll today! That is awesome, and should help defray some of the loss of not having Javy Baez in there (Maddon said he’ll miss tonight with his thumb issue, and hopefully be back on Thursday).
Contreras immediately gets paired with his old pal, Jon Lester. I love it.