chicago cubs lineup

Chicago Cubs Lineup: Almora Leads Off, Quintana Starts

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanApril 1, 2018

The Cubs will be trying to cobble together their first win streak of the season as they face the surprisingly spry Marlins for the fourth time.

Albert Almora Jr. is leading off for the second time, which is due to both facing a lefty and Ian Happ’s struggles since that season-opening homer. Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo follow, but Addison Russell steps into the cleanup role in this one.

Kyke Schwarber hits fifth, Victor Caratini is catching and hitting sixth, Jason Heyward hits seventh, and Javy Baez hits eighth.

Jose Quintana makes his first start of the season and his first as a full-fledged member of the Cubs organization. That may sound kind of strange, but I think it’ll be a big deal for his long-term success. Despite the excellent overall performance of the rotation during spring training, we’ve seen Jon Lester and Yu Darvish struggle with command and consistency.

Attempting to lead his team to a series split will be 25-year-old Indianapolis native Dillon Peters. The southpaw debuted last season and had serious issues with the strike zone (5.46 BB/9), something that echoed through spring training. Peters walked nine in 7.2 innings and posted a 1.96 WHIP, not necessarily good indicators of his ability to get over on this Cubs lineup.

Then again, we’ve seen how the Marlins pitchers have found success by being effectively wild.

First pitch is at 12:10pm CT and can be seen on NBC Sports Chicago+ and heard on 670 The Score. And in a pretty cool move, local cord cutters can stream the game via YouTube TV.

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanApril 1, 2018
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