Maddon Sets Rotation: Hendricks, Darvish, Quintana, Chatwood to Follow Lester

The Cubs announced yesterday that Jon Lester would be the Opening Day starter, and Joe Maddon confirmed Wednesday that the remainder of the rotation would stay as we see it now. Kyle Hendricks will be next in line, followed by Yu Darvish, Jose Quintana, and Tyler Chatwood.

Not that it’s some kind of revelation, but three members of the rotation — Lester, Darvish, Quintana — were on the bump for their respective clubs when the 2017 season opened. And two of them slot in as the Cubs’ Nos. 3 and 4 starters, which, let’s be honest, is not at all an indication of their talent level.

That said, it’s still nice to see Hendricks kind of getting that nod of respect after being slotted at the back of the rotation for the past few seasons. We all know how injuries and matchups can and will shuffle things around, but Hendricks has absolutely earned his stripes in both the regular season and the playoffs.

I can’t lie, friends, I’m really excited to see how this rotation comes together over the course of the season.