Chicago Cubs Lineup:.
Weve been here before– frequently with even worse chances and a lot more on the line– so its going to take more than a rookie starter (Sixto Sanchez), the Marlins, and a made up first-round of the postseason to shake me. Not with Yu Darvish on the mound, not with the game at Wrigley Field. Come on, individuals. Lets go.
Just after you end up lunch, the Chicago Cubs are going to face their first elimination game of 2020. If they win, theyll have another one tomorrow. If they lose, its all over.
1. Ian Happ, CF2. Anthony Rizzo, 1B3. Willson Contreras, DH4. Kyle Schwarber, LF5. Kris Bryant, 3B6. Jason Heyward, RF7. Javy Baez, SS8. David Bote, 2B9. Victor Caratini, C.
By now, you should understand the story of Sixto Sanchez. Hes a top pitching prospect, who was promoted this year, came up, controlled for a while, then got exploded in his last two starts with a lots of wildness. His capability to shut down a really excellent offense is clearly there, but this is still a 22-year-old whose made 7 big league starts concerning Wrigley Field for a championship game. Fans in the stands or not, this is a big moment for him– and the reality that his last two starts were so bad (combined: 7.0 IP, 12H, 9ER, 6 BBs, 4Ks) will be on his mind.
On a more practical level, lets note that Sanchez has in fact brought reverse splits this season, meaning his fellow righties have in fact struck him much better than lefties:.
As for the order, the only real noteworthy modification was dropping Kris Bryant down to 5th and bumping Willson Contreras up to 3rd. Besides that, todays lineup, which could be the Cubs last for an extremely long time, looks a lot like the lineups weve seen every game this season. I think thats an advantage.
What do you do about that? Do you rely on a sample size of less than 39.0 IP plus whatever imperfect searching you have on a guy with such little professional experience overall? Well, a little. The Cubs do still have 3 natural lefties (Rizzo, Schwarber, Heyward) plus two switch-hitters who will bat from the left side against Sanchez (Happ, Caratini), so thats majority their lineup … however David Bote is in there at second base instead of Jason Kipnis, whichs about all the personnel tinkering David Ross was prepared to do.
v. LHH:.232/.270/.261 (.232 wOBA) v. RHH:.267/.345/.400 (.329 wOBA).
Other than that, todays lineup, which could be the Cubs last for a really long time, looks a lot like the lineups weve seen every single game this season.
As normal, well have your Pre-Gamin post closer to video game time (1:08 CT).
Simply after you finish lunch, the Chicago Cubs are going to face their very first removal video game of 2020. Not with Yu Darvish on the mound, not with the video game at Wrigley Field. His capability to shut down an actually good offense is clearly there, but this is still a 22-year-old whose made 7 big league starts coming to Wrigley Field for a playoff video game. The Cubs do still have 3 natural lefties (Rizzo, Schwarber, Heyward) plus two switch-hitters who will bat from the left side against Sanchez (Happ, Caratini), so thats more than half their lineup … however David Bote is in there at 2nd base rather of Jason Kipnis, and thats about all the personnel playing David Ross was willing to do.
