The Chicago Cubs haven’t played a regular season game against a team outside the AL or NL Central since 2019. Today, that’ll change. Here’s the Cubs lineup against Drew Smyly Kyle Wright and the Atlanta Braves.
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
1. Ian Happ, CF
2. Willson Contreras, C
3. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
4. Kris Bryant, 3B
5. Joc Pederson, LF
6. Javy Baez, SS
7. Jason Heyward, RF
8. Eric Sogard, 2B
9. Zach Davies, P
A couple of quick notes first: (1) Evidently, Zach Davies is taking the start for the Cubs today (it was TBD up until moments ago), and Trevor Williams will start tomorrow. The Cubs rotation was thrown for a loop with the late Kyle Hendricks scratch a few days ago, but the off-day certainly helps get them back on track. (2) The righty, Kyle Wright, is starting in place of the lefty (and former Cub) Drew Smyly, who was, himself, a late scratch this morning.
The Cubs 1-7 looks pretty identical to what you’d expect to see against most lefties *or* righties anyway, but Eric Sogard is in there at second base … and THAT makes me wonder.
Has David Bote already lost his job as *the* second baseman? He had a pretty rough series in Milwaukee, but he’s still had barely 33 plate appearances and it’s not like Sogard has been any better offensively:
• Bote: .107/.212/.214 (24 wRC+); 9.1 BB%, 21.2 K%
• Sogard: .136/.136/.273 (4 wRC+); 0 BB%, 13.6 K%
It could be as simple as Wright has struggled enormously against lefties in his career, but we just feel such a long way away from “David Bote is the starter at 2B” and I’m not sure if it’s actually the right call.
Wright’s Statcast Corner (link)
Historically, Wright mixes his mid-90s fastball with a hard slider, and then goes to the curveball and changeup as needed.
As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ post closer to game time (1:20 CT).