No Secrets Here, Cubs Need to Hit
The Chicago Cubs postseason leader in average right now is Anthony Rizzo (.267), and then Jason Heyward (.250) and Kris Bryant and Albert Almora are tied (.200). We can certainly point to some bad offensive players in this series, looking at you Javier Baez and your swinging first pitch double-play, but really this series has been pitching dominated. Both the Cubs and the Washington Nationals starters have been ridiculous, pitching to a 0.94 ERA, the bulk of the runs given up by Gio Gonzalez (3 ER).
If you watched the games on TBS, you’d guess that the Nationals pitching staff was carrying the load on this, but you’d be wrong. So far in the series, the Cubs starters have a 0.41 ERA compared to the Nats 1.43. This leads to the only true key to tonight’s Game Five matchup as – the Cubs have to hit.
Here are how the Cubs hitters have faired so far in this series.
| Player | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| Jon Jay | 0.143 | 0.333 | 0.286 |
| Albert Almora | 0.200 | 0.200 | 0.200 |
| Ben Zobrist | 0.200 | 0.200 | 0.333 |
| Kris Bryant | 0.200 | 0.250 | 0.267 |
| Anthony Rizzo | 0.267 | 0.313 | 0.533 |
| Willson Contreras | 0.182 | 0.400 | 0.455 |
| Addison Russell | 0.143 | 0.200 | 0.143 |
| Kyle Schwarber | 0.000 | 0.200 | 0.000 |
| Ian Happ | 0.000 | 0.250 | 0.000 |
| Jason Heyward | 0.250 | 0.400 | 0.250 |
| Javier Baez | 0.000 | 0.100 | 0.000 |
| Team AVG | 0.144 | 0.259 | 0.224 |
I certainly am not pointing a finger at the Cubs hitters as you have to give to give the Nationals pitchers a ton of credit – but these tried and tested stars have to find a way to hit tonight.
This isn’t a surprise, we’re not bashing a hitter or a decision or anything else here, and the keys for the Nationals is the exact same. We should expect the pitchers for both teams to go out and be brilliant, it will be the team that has a positive offensive contribution from one of their star hitters that end up being the difference here.
Key No 1 – Get KB going
Kris has been that guy that makes the lineup click all season. Look at this second half, when he was going good, the Cubs were going great. With the lack of a true leadoff guy, Kris’ at-bats are incredibly important. If he’s on base, it completely changes Anthony Rizzo’s at bats.
No 2 Kyle Schwarber – Flipping the pitcher
Kyle isn’t starting, but he can play a gigantic role in tonight’s ballgame. With the lefty in Gio Gonzalez, it is likely that Dusty Baker will opt to go to a right-handed reliever with the Cubs heavy right-handed lineup. Kyle Schwarber has the ability to either make Dusty waste a pitcher or cause Dusty to keep left-handed relievers in the game late in fear of Kyle’s bat. Or, if he ends up pitching to Kyle at some point, it should be a matchup he can succeed in.
Key 3 – Pressure early
The Cubs have been the league’s best when facing a starting pitcher the third time through the lineup. Tonight, however, they need to pounce early. Either scoring early runs or even forcing a ton of pitches early can become a deciding factor in this game. With Max Scherzer lurking in the pen tonight, scoring early is at a premium.
And now that I wrote that, fully expect a 10-8 ballgame…
