Cubs Den

Cubs vs Royals Series Preview: (8/3-8/4)

The Cubs are playing great baseball to open the season. A 7-2 record, the exact opposite of 2-7 mark in 2019. Strong offense, starters, and defense have overcome continued bullpen lapses to build the good start.

The Cubs welcome a down Kansas City Royals team to Wrigley for two games. KC struggles in most aspects of the game, one notable exception is Whit Merrifield, who is raking again. They also are burdened with Mike Matheny as manager.

Kris Bryant is back after a stomach ailment and testing negative for COVID. David Bote has been good early on as has Ian Happ. Jeremy Jeffress is the default closer with Craig Kimbrel‘s issues.

This is a chance for more wins against a weak opponent. Keep taking advantage Cubs.

Watch/Listen

Monday: 7:15 PM CT on Marquee SN/670AM

Tuesday: 7:15 PM CT on Marquee SN/670AM

Lineups

Royals

1. Whit Merrifield (R) 2B

2. Jorge Soler (R) DH

3. Ryan O’Hearn (L) 1B

4. Salvador Perez (R) C

5. Franchy Cordero (L) RF

6. Maikel Franco (R) 3B

7. Alex Gordon (L) LF

8. Adalberto Mondesi (S) SS

9. Brett Phillips (L) CF

P. Danny Duffy (L)

Cubs

1. Kris Bryant (R) LF

2. Anthony Rizzo (L) 1B

3. Javier Baez (R) SS

4. Willson Contreras (R) C

5. Kyle Schwarber (L) DH

6. David Bote (R) 3B

7. Jason Heyward (L) RF

8. Nico Hoerner (R) 2B

9. Ian Happ (S) CF

P. Alec Mills (R)

Bullpen Usage

Lineups and Bullpen Usage via Baseball Press.

Opposing pitchers

Scouting Reports from Brooks Baseball.

Danny Duffy: Danny Duffy has thrown 18,864 pitches that have been tracked by the PITCHf/x system between 2009 and 2020, including pitches thrown in the MLB Regular Season, the MLB Postseason, The World Baseball Classic, Spring Training and Fall/Winter Ball. In 2020, he has relied primarily on his Fourseam Fastball (92mph), also mixing in a Curve (76mph), Change (84mph), Sinker (92mph) and Slider (82mph).

His fourseam fastball has less armside movement than typical and has essentially average velo. His curve has an exceptional bite, is basically never swung at and missed compared to other pitchers’ curves, is an extreme flyball pitch compared to other pitchers’ curves and has slight glove-side movement. His change is an extreme flyball pitch compared to other pitchers’ changeups. His sinker generates an extremely high number of swings & misses compared to other pitchers’ sinkers, is an extreme flyball pitch compared to other pitchers’ sinkers, has surprisingly little armside run and has slightly above average velo. His slider is basically never swung at and missed compared to other pitchers’ sliders, has exceptional depth, results in more flyballs compared to other pitchers’ sliders and has short glove-side cut.

Sean’s note; Duffy was once a top prospect but those days are gone. Right handers fare well against the lefty.

Brady Singer: Brady Singer has thrown 162 pitches that have been tracked by the PITCHf/x system in 2020, all of them occuring in the MLB Regular Season. In 2020, he has relied primarily on his Sinker (94mph) and Slider (84mph), also mixing in a Change (88mph).

His sinker generates an extremely high number of swings & misses compared to other pitchers’ sinkers, results in more flyballs compared to other pitchers’ sinkers, has less armside run than typical and has slightly above average velo. His slider has exceptional depth and results in many more groundballs compared to other pitchers’ sliders. His change is much firmer than usual, results in more flyballs compared to other pitchers’ changeups and has slight armside fade.

Sean’s note: Singer is currently a top prospect. The 2018 first round pick generates a ton of grounders with his power sinker.

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Series Preview