Joe Maddon is trying to get every advantage he can and after having to spend an extra day in St. Louis because of Wednesday's rain out against the Cardinals. The Chicago Cubs manager decided to switch up his starting rotation. The Cubs host the Los Angeles Dodgers for their home opener on Monday and instead of Jake Arrieta starting, it will be Jon Lester.
Arrieta was scheduled to pitch on Monday, but his start has been pushed up to Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers. As always, Maddon has a good reason for his decision.
Via the Chicago Tribune:
“The off-days always help," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "Without the off-days, we couldn’t have done it. But we’re going it based on handedness. Milwaukee is predominantly right-handed, and the Dodgers are predominantly left-handed. It was just right in front of us, so we decided to do it." (Joe Maddon)The Dodgers have been awful against left-handed pitching and that included getting shutout by former Cubs' lefty Clayton Richard on Tuesday. In 2016, the Dodgers hit .214 vs. lefties and .264 against righties. Lester was great against Los Angeles during last year's postseason, allowing two earned runs in 13 innings combined during his two starts against the Dodgers. That came after pitching 15 innings of one-run ball against them in two regular-season starts that included a complete-game win at Wrigley Field. Arrieta will stay on his normal five-day rest, while Lester will go on a week's rest. New Cubs' pitcher Brett Anderson, a lefty, will also pitch against the Dodgers next week. John Lackey gets the nod on Wednesday. The Cubs will raise their World Series banner on Monday and on Wednesday they'll have a ring ceremony. Lester's good friend, David Ross will be back on Wednesday to throw out the first pitch and lead the 7th inning stretch.
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