Well, if these last two games weren’t “must-wins” today’s contest certainly is. Here’s the Cubs lineup against Dakota Hudson and the Cardinals.
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Nicholas Castellanos, RF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Ben Zobrist, 2B
- Victor Caratini, C
- Jason Heyward, CF
- Nico Hoerner, SS
- Jose Quintana, P
Dakota Hudson has some pretty big splits this season …
LHH v. Hudson: .258/.361/.443 (.342 wOBA)
RHH v. Hudson: .239/.312/.370 (.291 wOBA)
… which is perhaps why we see Victor Caratini in there today behind the plate instead of Willson Contreras – despite the fact that Caratini will be starting again tomorrow with Yu Darvish on the mound. You may question whether that’s the right call given how well Contreras has been swinging the bat since returning from his injury (140 wRC+) or how well he swings it against righties in general (121 wRC+), but it’s the call we got today with the season more or less on the line.
As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ post closer to game time (1:20 CT).