The Chicago Cubs will finally get their postseason underway on Friday night when they take on the Washington Nationals, Joe Maddon has revealed his first lineup of the postseason.
With many different options on the table, here’s how Maddon has lined his team up on Friday.
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One National player out of the 17 that have plate-appearances against Jon Lester has hit a home run against the lefty hurler: Bryce Harper. The Nationals have 220 AT-BATS against Lester, with just the one long ball.
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We’ll admit to cheating a bit on this one, but Anthony Rizzo had a .222 batting average against the Nationals this season. He also had two RBI in 27 at-bats against them.
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The number of playoff appearances in a row the Cubs have made. The last time they accomplished that feat came in the 1908 season, when they won their second straight World Series.
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John Lackey has won three World Series in his big league career, and will be looking for a fourth ring in what could be his final postseason as a professional.
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The number of home runs that four players, Dexter Fowler, Kyle Schwarber, Kris Bryant, and Anthony Rizzo have hit in their careers as Cubs. Three of those players will take the field in this series trying to break the tie and grab the career postseason home run record in Cubs history.
Most Cubs hitters have had a tough time against Max Scherzer, but one guy that has hit him hard is Ben Zobrist, who has three career home runs and six RBI against him in 25 at-bats. He does have a bad .200 batting average, but when he hits Scherzer, he REALLY hits him.
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In a July 27 game against the Milwaukee Brewers, the Nationals smashed eight home runs, the most long balls any team had in a single game this season. Only two teams have ever hit more home runs in a single game: the 1987 Toronto Blue Jays, who hit 10 homers in a game against Baltimore, and the 1999 Cincinnati Reds, who hit nine long balls against the Phillies.
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The Cubs had nine players hit at least 10 home runs this season, the second-highest total in the National League. The one team that had more? The Nationals, of course, who had 10 players hit double digits in the league’s most prolific home-run hitting season.
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The Cubs aren’t known as a team that can steal a lot of bases, with only 62 total steals this season. Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez each had 10 stolen bases apiece to lead the team, while Nationals outfielder Trea Turner stole 46 on his own. That’s as many as the Cubs’ top SIX base stealers combined.
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Eleven Cubs players appeared in at least 100 games this season. Meanwhile the Nationals, who had to deal with injuries to key players like Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, and Adam Eaton, only had eight players hit that mark.
Maddon ended up choosing Zobrist over Jon Jay for the lead-off spot, as he'll hope to get an on-base threat in the top of the order for guys like Bryant and Rizzo to drive in. He also chose to keep Javier Baez in the mix, despite his struggles against power pitchers like Stephen Strasburg.
This lineup will allow Maddon to make plenty of defensive subs later if he chooses, with Albert Almora and Jon Jay both available, and a power bat is available as Ian Happ will not start the game.
