Tyler Chatwood Will Start Cubs Third Game of the Season, Jon Lester Gets Exhibition on Wednesday

With Kyle Hendricks getting the Opening Day nod for the Cubs on Friday, it was time to fill out the rest of the rotation for that series against the Brewers.

As expected, Yu Darvish will start game two, and then it’ll be Tyler Chatwood, not Jon Lester, in game three. Lester will be getting one of the exhibition starts this week:

Cubs will have Hendricks pitch tonight, Darvish tomorrow and Lester and Mills piggybacking Wednesday against Twins. Opening series against Brewers will be Hendricks, Darvish and Chatwood.

— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) July 19, 2020

Chatwood starting game three is less about the match-up with the Brewers and less about him being slotted ahead of Lester. Instead, it’s really just a matter of Lester’s prep for the season being on a different trajectory than the other (younger) starters.

After the Brewers series, the Cubs figure to go Lester, Mills, Hendricks, Darvish against the Reds in the second series of the year (there’s no off-day in the mix).