Chicago Cubs Lineup (8/10/24): Happ Leads Off, Steele Starting
This one is going to be abbreviated because I’m taking my son to see a live screening of The Sandlot, which is touring the country in celebration of its 30th anniversary. They’ll be bringing the show to California later this month and there are some other Midwest stops this fall, so check it out if that’s your jam. The Cubs’ tour has been much more exciting of late and they’ve got a chance to creep closer to the postseason with a win tonight against the worst team in baseball history.
Seriously, the White Sox are 15.5 games behind the Marlins at this point and they’re 20.5 games behind the A’s in the AL standings. Brutal. That said, they’ve managed to score six runs in each of their three previous games against the Cubs and might still have a little fight in them even though they’re so downtrodden.
Justin Steele didn’t pitch in that earlier series and should have no problem with a lineup that has a combined 80 wRC+ against lefties this season. Still, it’d be a good idea to put up crooked numbers to support him.
Going for the home team is Chris Flexen, who has done anything but this year with a 5.53 ERA that’s only slightly worse than his peripherals suggest it should be. He did manage to shut the Cubs down back in June, however, and we’ve seen this team baffled by otherwise mediocre hurlers on more than one occasion this year. The 30-year-old Flexen is statistically one of the worst pitchers in MLB, as evidenced by a 1st-percentile run value of -19 that is tanked by his -14 fastball value (also 1st percentile). His 38th-percentile breaking ball and 10th-percentile breaking ball salvage the slightest bit of productivity.
The only category of his Statcast data in which Flexen is not blue is his 37.4% hard-hit rate, which is in the 61st percentile. Dude doesn’t strike many batters out, issues too many walks, and gives up a lot of homers. There is zero excuse for the Cubs to do anything other than jump on him immediately.
First pitch is at 6:15pm CT on Fox and 670 The Score.
