By virtue of their series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals, the Chicago Cubs have a great opportunity to set their pitching rotation for the NLCS, and Joe Maddon revealed how the Cubs will begin the NLCS.
The manager has opted to give Jake Arrieta an extra day of rest to begin the next round, with Jon Lester slated to start Game 1 at either Dodger Stadium or Citi Field on Saturday night. Arrieta will pitch in Game 2 of the best-of-seven series, and Maddon explained his reasoning after the team worked out at Wrigley Field on Thursday.
“Jon Lester in a big game is always tasty. You’ll always take that,” Maddon said. “I think this little extra rest is going to help. He’s really confident.”
Lester started Game 1 of the NLDS against the Cardinals, giving up three earned runs and striking out nine batters as the Cubs fell by a score of 4-0. Lester has a history of succeeding in the postseason, with a 6-5 record and a 2.66 ERA in 15 career appearances in the playoffs.
Even with that success, there was some question about whether Maddon would go with Arrieta in the first game of the series, since doing so would put the Cubs’ star on his regular rotation schedule.
Despite that, Maddon is confident that Arrieta will benefit from the extra rest.
“He’d probably say not (about being okay with extra rest), but we’ve been pushing him pretty hard,” Maddon said. “His innings are way up compared to where they’ve been. Any time you can give a guy an emotional and physical break you take advantage of that. I’m sure he’d say he was fine, and I’m sure he is, but I kind of like it that way.”
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The other big question facing the Cubs is whether or not the team will be okay with having their less reliable starters going in Games 3 and 4 of the series. Kyle Hendricks would likely get the Game 3 start at Wrigley Field on Tuesday, but Maddon is confident that the team will stick with their four man rotation.
“I feel good. Every starting pitcher is going to have a moment or two,” Maddon said about the team’s inconsistency after the top two starters.
