Even against the righties, Willson Contreras takes over



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With Joc Pederson’s trade to the Braves, the Cubs now need a new day-to-day leader against the right-handed pitchers. With southpaw Madison Bumgarner on the mound last night, they were able to push that decision back another day, but that’s the end of the line. The Diamondbacks start a right-hander, Zac Gallen, this afternoon, so David Ross had to make a choice. Here’s where it landed.

At the same place!

Composition of the Chicago Cubs:

1. Willson Contreras, C.
2. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
3. Java Baez, SS
4. Kris Bryant, 3B
5. Jason Heyward, RF
6. Nico Hoerner, 2B
7. Ian Happ, LF
8. Rafael Ortega, CF
9. Adbert Alzolay, P.

It’s Willson Contreras doing it all over again today, and while you can argue for a few other guys, it’s not like Ian Happ – for example – is combing. So it’s good.

Gallen has left / right (traditional) divisions that are very important to his career, meaning lefties have hit him much better than righties. Unfortunately for the Cubs, most of the regulars are right-handed, and none of the lefties outside of Anthony Rizzo are hitting particularly well right now. If Gallen is healthy and doing what he usually does, it will be a more difficult game than you might expect from a bad Diamondbacks club.

As usual, we’ll have your full pre-game post closer to playtime (3:10 CT).

Zac Gallen:

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