There he is! We had become a little worried by the sudden lack of Willson Contreras in the lineup over the past several days — a fear that ticked up after David Ross revealed that his starting catcher was, in fact, dealing with some undisclosed issue. But Contreras is back in there tonight, after dealing with what is now being called a “mid-body issue.” I’ll leave that up to your imagination. Contreras is playing catcher and batting cleanup. And here’s the rest of the Cubs lineup for the two-game finale against the White Sox at Wrigley Field.
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
1. Alfonso Rivas, 1B
2. Seiya Suzuki, RF
3. Ian Happ, LF
4. Willson Contreras, C
5. Frank Schwindel, DH
6. Nico Hoerner, SS
7. Jason Heyward, CF
8. Patrick Wisdom, 3B
9. Nick Madrigal, 2B
SP: Kyle Hendricks
Lucas Giolito is on the mound for the White Sox this evening, and he’s been very close to split-neutral (in terms of lefties/righties) for his career — from overall results down to the various rate stats (AVG, K%, BB%, and so on), it’s all pretty straight-forward. Lefties have been a little bit better at elevating, but only just barely, and they all make about the same amount of soft and hard contact. Frankly, he’s got one of the truest split-neutral FanGraphs pages I’ve seen.
That’s probably why the Cubs are going with what I think is their current standard lineup (i.e. no special considerations and all the up-to-date regular starters). And, yes, that includes Alfonso Rivas, who is getting another start at first base tonight, while leading off, after a great effort against Michael Kopech and the Sox yesterday.
Oh, and Nico Hoerner has moved up in the lineup once again, to a season-highest 6th spot in the order. David Ross seems to be methodically moving him up from ninth as he continues to demonstrate improvements at the plate.
As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ post closer to game time (6:40 CT).