Chicago Cubs Lineup: Waiting to Exhale, Cubs Take on the Pirates

To be certain, this last month has been tough for fans of the Chicago Cubs (52-33). If there’s a group of fans in all of baseball that can handle the ups and downs, it’s Cubs fans. We’ve seen it all – good and bad, but mostly bad – and we knew that winning it all wouldn’t be as easy as it felt it might be back in April. Yeah, this is hard, but bring it on baby. If this is what it’s like to create a championship caliber team then I’m all in.

Today we follow Jake Arrieta (12-3, 2.33 ERA) as he takes the ball against the Pittsburgh Pirates (44-42), a team that’s been hot lately, winning seven in a row before dropping Thursday’s game against St. Louis. Jake is looking to get back on track after failing to make it beyond the sixth inning in each of his last three starts, two of those were losses.

A pretty standard lineup going for the Cubs tonight. Personally, I like it when Javier Baez is at third base since that seems to be the position he’s most comfortable playing. It also feels right when Kris Bryant is in the outfield, a position he plays as well, if not better than third base. His fielding percent in the outfield is .982 compared to .947 at third.

Willson Contreras, who has clearly made an emotional investment in helping this team win, is back in today at left field. Willson is quickly becoming an integral part of this Cubs team. That’s just plain cool.

Friday 7/8 6:05pm
Jake Arrieta (R)
@ Pirates – Francisco Liriano (L)
1. Ben Zobrist (S) 2B
2. Kris Bryant (R) RF
3. Anthony Rizzo (L) 1B
4. Willson Contreras (R) LF
5. Addison Russell (R) SS
6. Jason Heyward (L) CF
7. Javier Baez (R) 3B
8. Miguel Montero (L) C
9. Jake Arrieta (R) P