The Cubs are trying to avoid losing a fifth game in a row, as they finish up their series against the Braves Thursday night. Atlanta will have left-hander Max Fried starting, so that means Kyle Schwarber won't be starting, right? Wrong! Joe Maddon has ended the dumb platoon of Schwarber for at least today's game, starting him in left field.
So, Schwarber is in and of course Albert Almora Jr. is in center, but Jason Heyward is on the bench for the series finale. Mark Zagunis, who was starting in place of Schwarber against lefties, is making the start in right field, replacing Heyward.
Ben Zobrist is also getting the day off, with David Bote getting the start at second.
Through five games, Heyward has already grounded into five double plays. Just a stupid high number in such a short period of time. He's not making hard contact and on Wednesday night he also had two infield pop ups to add to the stat sheet. Everyone will instantly bring up Heyward's money and you know what, that doesn't matter. He's just not very good right now, the money is irrelevant. So, hopefully going forward the platoon ends with Schwarber and it's Heyward who sits against lefties.
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