Cubs lineup Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jake Arrieta and John Lackey for National League Division Series
Joe Maddon announced the Cubs starting rotation Tuesday for the NLDS and made official what has been known for several weeks, Jon Lester will start Game 1 of the NLDS on Friday night (8:15pm CDT) at Wrigley and Kyle Hendricks will start Game 1 on Saturday (7:08pm CDT).
The Cubs are going with a rotation of Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jake Arrieta and John Lackey in the NLDS.
With Lester and Hendricks scheduled for the two home games, Arrieta will start game three on the road in either Citi Field in New York or AT&T Park in San Francisco. Lackey would follow Arrieta for game four on the road which puts Lester in line to start a game five.
The Cubs have until Friday morning to set the 25-man roster for the NLDS. Based on Maddon’s comments Tuesday, the Cubs will wait until the deadline to announce the roster. Maddon said the Cubs would likely have 11 pitchers and 14 position players on the roster.
Lester and Hendricks have been the Cubs most consistent starters this season, especially at Wrigley. Arrieta has had a lot of success on the road the last two seasons, and that includes two no-hitters. Lackey’s postseason resume speaks for itself.
Jon Lester was 1-1 in two starts versus the Giants this season with a 4.63 ERA and 1.20 WHIP. Lester’s win over the Giants came at Wrigley on Sept. 2. Lester dominated the Giants at Wrigley and came within a Hunter Pence solo home run of a no-hitter.
Lester was 1-1 in two starts against the Mets with a 9.00 ERA and 1.89 WHIP. Lester’s worst start of the season came at Citi Field on July 3. At Wrigley, Lester shut the Mets down for 7 2/3 innings. In his first start back from the break, Lester gave up one run on four hits with three walks and three strikeouts in a 5-1 win over the Metropolitans.
With seven spots on the postseason pitching staff, the Cubs are expected to have Aroldis Chapman, Hector Rondon, Pedro Strop, Justin Grimm, Carl Edwards Jr., Mike Montgomery and Travis Wood in the bullpen for the NLDS.