***Official St Louis Cardinals vs Chicago Cubs 2015 NLDS thread***
- Thread starter cmjh10
- Start date
Need to get off ISU football before I start caring about it again. Looking forward to the game tonight. Looks like the wind is going to be blowing pretty good out to right, so hopefully Arrieta brings his A+ game with the lefties the Cardinals have.
My guess on Cubs lineup-
Fowler (CF)
Schwarber (LF)
Rizzo (1B)
Bryant (3B)
Montero (C)
Castro (2B)
Coghlan (RF)
Arrieta (P)
Russell (SS)
My guess on Cubs lineup-
Fowler (CF)
Schwarber (LF)
Rizzo (1B)
Bryant (3B)
Montero (C)
Castro (2B)
Coghlan (RF)
Arrieta (P)
Russell (SS)
I'd like to see Soler start, he's had five plate appearances this series and reached all five times. I can live with Soler and Schwarber in the corners with Arrieta on the mound.
yeah, I'd rather not see Coghlan starting again this post season barring injury.
which is both good and bad I suppose. Theoretically it's good that they haven't faced him so they might not have a feel for how he wants to pitch them.
However, he was in the Pirates heads with how dominant he had been against them so I think it actually helped that he faced them so often.
Going with this
Fowler Cf
Schwarber LF
Bryant 3B
Rizzo 1B
Soler RF
Castro 2B
Montero C
Russell SS
Jake P
Fowler Cf
Schwarber LF
Bryant 3B
Rizzo 1B
Soler RF
Castro 2B
Montero C
Russell SS
Jake P
Overall, like the lineup, but would make a few changes.
Fowler (CF)
Schwarber (LF)
Bryant (3B)
Rizzo (1B)
Soler (RF)
Montero (C)
Castro (2B)
Arrieta (P)
Russell (SS)
First seven hitters swing S, L, R, L, R,L,R, which then likely makes it more difficult for the Cardinals to put in their two lefty specialists.
And he dominated them that start. He did have a bad outing against them back On May 7, but also dominated them in Game 2 of the season. Biggest thing for the Cubs tonight is to keep the bats active, and get out to an early lead. Jake will do his thing, but if the offense does not do theirs, it could all be a waste.
The only reason I didn't go with Soler in right is with the wind blowing out to right, and his defensive liability.
Also, Rizzo bats left.
This is true for the entire playoffs. Repeats of Game 1 are likely if that doesn't happen.
I get that, and Soler's defense does make me nervous but he seems locked in at the plate right now and I would love to get off to a good start. Get an early lead and you can bring in Jackson as a defensive sub as soon as the fifth or sixth.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
With Jake pitching, I don't think Soler's defense will be any sort of problem. Let him get things off to a good start, do a defensive replacement later on if need be, and go get the win.
I really am not sure where we decided that Soler is a defensive liability. To me, he seems to have decent range and a really good arm. There are a lot worse outfielders starting for a lot of teams that cannot hit like Soler.
Wacha has reverse splits and is better against lefties than righties because of his changeup. Soler should be starting in RF.
There really aren't many. Both BR and Fangraphs rate him as one of the worst defensive OF's in the game for this year. Watching him play seems to back this up, he's turned a lot of singles into doubles and doubles into triples. I don't know if some of this is due to his injuries or what, but he's looked really stiff out there.
I could see Bryant and Rizzo feeding off of each other to come out of their combined slump in a big way.
