Chicago Cubs Lineup

Chicago Cubs Lineup (9/7/24): Wisdom at 3B, Bethancourt Catching, Assad on Mound

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanSeptember 7, 2024

Boy, the Cubs sure know how to ride the pendulum. Their last three games have been shutouts, it’s just that they’ve only been on the winning end in one of them. And it was a no-hitter in which they scored 12 runs. Forming the moldy buns of this latest poop sandwich are absent offensive efforts against the Pirates and Yankees. To make matters worse, both the Braves and Mets won last night to push the Cubs five games back in the Wild Card.

Though they haven’t been mathematically eliminated just yet, their odds are now at 0.9% and will likely fall lower with two more against the Yanks and three against the Dodgers in LA. It doesn’t help that they’re facing 28-year-old righty Clarke Schmidt this afternoon. Seemingly a Four-A player who couldn’t stay healthy or put up consistent numbers at the MLB level, Schmidt appears to have figured something out this season.

In his 11 big league starts, he’s got a 2.52 ERA with 67 strikeouts and 20 walks over 60.2 innings. His repertoire is fairly balanced, led by a 92 mph cutter he throws about 35% of the time. Clarke throws an 85 mph sweeper at a 24% clip, then his 94 mph sinker is at 21% and his 84 mph curve is deployed about 18% of the time. Those breaking balls can work at the same speed because they have decidedly different shapes, with the sweeper often landing up in the zone with more horizontal movement and the knuckle curve having more depth.

The cutter and sinker both land mainly in the upper half or third of the zone, with the former ending up glove-side and the latter running in on the arm-side. Mixing speeds, shapes, and locations has made Clarke effective against hitters from both sides, though he does have mild reverse splits since three of those pitches come in on lefty batters. He hasn’t given up multiple homers in a game this season, so maybe the Cubs can change that.

Hell, I think we’d all just be happy with them looking even a little bit competent after yesterday’s game.

That starts, as usual, with Ian Happ in left field and Michael Busch at first. Seiya Suzuki is the DH, Cody Bellinger is in right, Nico Hoerner is at second, and Dansby Swanson plays short. Pete Crow-Armstrong moves up to seventh in center, Patrick Wisdom gives the scuffling Isaac Paredes a break at third, and Christian Bethancourt is behind the plate.

They’re supporting Javier Assad, who has managed to go deeper than usual in each of his last two starts. He only had seven combined strikeouts in those games after punching out as many Tigers in the previous outing, so he’ll have to miss some bats this afternoon. The Yankees are way too good to hope for a bunch of grounders to get you through the day.

First pitch is at 1:20pm CT on Marquee, MLB Network (out-of-market only), and 670 The Score.

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanSeptember 7, 2024
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