Chicago Cubs Lineup: La Stella at 3B, Bryant in LF, Schwarber Sits Against Bizzaro Kyle Hendricks

Well, this is certainly something.

Jon Jay is leading off in center and Tommy La Stella is batting second and playing third. Kris Bryant moves out to left with Anthony Rizzo cleaning up, probably the best spots for them in the lineup.

Ian Happ bats fifth and plays second, Javy Baez is at short, Jason Heyward is in right, and Rene Rivera is catching. Which means no Kyle Schwarber yet again, despite a righty on the mound and a stagnant offense that he represented half of yesterday. It appears that he has become a bench bat at this point.

You’ve seen enough of Kyle Hendricks and Zach Davies to know what’s in store Sunday afternoon. Davies works with a similar sinker/curve/change/cutter repertoire and has roughly the same velocity readings as Hendricks.

This is normally the part where I’d get into the opposing pitcher’s splits and tendencies, but I think we can all agree that the Cubs have struggled against all manner of stuff, regardless of handedness or velocity. Bryant has absolutely crushed Davies in the past, though, and Jay and Rizzo have also done pretty well. Sunday’s game is a simple matter of doing what they need to do.

Okay, so maybe that’s not simple. We’ll find out whether they can avoid an embarrassing sweep at 1:20 CT on ABC-7.

Here is this afternoon's #Cubs starting lineup.

Game preview: https://t.co/RGXQhag1oB pic.twitter.com/nXrlsPIysm

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 10, 2017