NEWSLETTER
Here we are, back again with the first Chicago Cubs lineup of a new season. If you snoozed through the offseason and are just finally checking in, I’ve got the cliff notes for you right here. Catch up and come back, because we’re getting started without you.
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Nico Hoerner, 2B – extended
- Dansby Swanson, SS
- Ian Happ, LF – not extended
- Cody Bellinger, CF
- Trey Mancini, DH
- Yan Gomes, C
- Eric Hosmer, 1B
- Patrick Wisdom, 3B
- Miles Mastrobuoni, RF
Unsurprisingly, today’s Cubs lineup looks an awful lot like what we saw all spring. David Ross really zeroed in on some decisions early and stuck with it. Among the obvious: Nico Hoerner is your leadoff man. Hoerner doesn’t quite offer the package of a “traditional leadoff man,” but that player basically doesn’t exist anymore. And frankly, I’m a little tied of looking for one. The freshly extended Hoerner is a highly engaged player, who should hit for a nice average, and has some speed. He also seems comfortable doing it and is the sort of guy you want up more often than not. Given the realistic options, he’s a good pick.
One of the other things we were curious about today was who was going to replace the injured Seiya Suzuki in right field. Somewhat surprisingly, that choice is Miles Mastrobuoni! I like it. This effectively keeps Nick Madrigal out of the lineup, by way of Patrick Wisdom at third base. Interesting to go with the strikeout prone Wisdom over the contact-heavy Madrigal against a big strikeout pitcher like Corbin Burnes, but I’m guessing David Ross hopes Wisdom runs into a homer. Either way, I think we’ll see a pretty heavy RF/3B/DH/1B rotation to start the year, so everyone will get their shot.
Along those lines, I wouldn’t read too much into Yan Gomes starting behind the plate today. This season, Gomes and Tucker Barnhart (and, to a lesser extent, Luis Torrens) are going to split time behind the plate more evenly than a traditional starter + backup would.
Milwaukee Brewers Lineup:
TBA
Pitching Matchup:
Milwaukee Brewers: Corbin Burnes, RHP
Chicago Cubs: Marcus Stroman, RHP
Marcus Stroman earned his Opening Day start this season with a very strong second-half in 2022 (2.56 ERA over his final 16 starts … 56.9% groundball rate). He’s still a very good pitcher when he finds his groove, even if he’s not quite an actual Ace.
That said, Stroman is at his best when he’s inducing weak contact on the ground, and that approach should be even more effective this season with such a talented defensive double-play combo behind him.
There isn’t a ton of useful matchup notes from Stroman’s history with the Brewers (Willy Adames has two HRs off Stroman in just 13 ABs, and that’s about it). There are some new faces up north. That said, Stroman did hold Milwaukee to 1 run over 5 innings in Game 2 of the regular season last year, and then actually dominated them two other times:
May 1: 7.0 IP, 2H, 0ER, 1BB, 5Ks
August 20: 7.2 IP, 2H, 2ER, 4BB, 5K
So maybe he can keep the streak alive.
But boy does this Cubs lineup have its work cutout. Brewers righty Corbin Burnes is arguably the odds-on favorite for NL Cy Young award (he and Sandy Alcantara, I’d think), and he’s had plenty of success against the Cubs throughout his career; especially lately:
That said, a few of today’s starting Cubs, actually have had some individual (small sample size) success against Burnes:
That doing anything for ya?
How to Watch:
Chicago Cubs (0-0) vs Milwaukee Brewers (0-0) at 1:20 CT on Marquee Sports Network, 670 The Score
