"The good news is that Shota Imanaga is on the bump tonight, and even though the wind is blowing out, he's been great this year *and* the Brewers struggle vs lefties. The bad news is that each of the next two games favors the Brewers. So ... you really can't let this one slip away. Baseball is always gonna baseball, but winning this first one is pretty important."
"In any case, I bring that up, because tonight's Cubs lineup features four lefties, including the switch-hitting Ian Happ. I was quietely hoping we might have gotten a fifth with Moises Ballesteros behind the plate, but it wasn't to be. And given the way both Ballesteros and Conforto have been swinging it lately, you knew the latter was going to be starting."
"Brandon Sproat is starting for the Milwaukee Brewers tonight, and here's a look at the lefty/righty splits for his career: vsLHH: .273/.385/.485 (.384 wOBA)vsRHH: .245/.319/.396 (.318 wOBA) The sample isn't big, but it's actually even more pronounced this season, with lefties slashing .267/.413/.517 (.412 wOBA) against him."
"But so much of that damage, it seems, was done over his first two starts. As I outline below, Sproat has been a lot better over his last five games. In any case, I bring that up, because tonight's Cubs lineup features four lefties, including the switch-hitting Ian Happ."
The Cubs enter the first Cubs–Brewers series after losing three straight. Shota Imanaga pitches for Chicago, and the Brewers have struggled against left-handed pitching. Wind blowing out is noted, but Imanaga has performed well this season. The next two games are described as favoring Milwaukee, so winning the opener is emphasized as important. Chicago’s Game 1 lineup includes Nico Hoerner, Michael Busch, Alex Bregman, Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, Michael Conforto, Carson Kelly, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Dansby Swanson, with four left-handed bats. Milwaukee starts Brandon Sproat, who has career and current-season splits that are worse versus left-handed hitters, with lefties hitting higher average, on-base, slugging, and wOBA.
Read at Bleacher Nation
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]