Joe Maddon announced Wednesday how the Cubs rotation will look to start the 2018 season
A day after making it official and naming lefty Jon Lester the Cubs starter for the first game of the season, Joe Maddon announced how he will lineup his rotation to begin the year.
Kyle Hendricks will follow Lester in the rotation. Yu Darvish will fill the third spot with lefty Jose Quintana and right-hander Tyler Chatwood rounding out the Cubs’ starting five.
Maddon indicated the order of the rotation to begin the season had more to do with matchups than anything. The skipper has stressed the importance of a strong start to the year in order to avoid the early season struggles the team had a year ago.
Order of operations. #EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/pHJVDVrYgL
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) February 28, 2018
As long as there are no issues or injuries during Spring Training, the Cubs starting rotation over the first 11 games will be as follows:
- March 29 at Miami: Jon Lester
- March 30 at Miami: Kyle Hendricks
- March 31 at Miami: Yu Darvish
- April 1 at Miami: Jose Quintana
- April 2 at Cincinnati: Tyler Chatwood
- April 3 at Cincinnati: Jon Lester
- April 4: Off Day
- April 5 at Milwaukee: Kyle Hendricks
- April 6 at Milwaukee: Yu Darvish
- April 7 at Milwaukee: Jose Quintana
- April 8 at Milwaukee: Tyler Chatwood
- April 9 vs. Pirates at Wrigley Field: Jon Lester
The new-look Cubs rotation features three pitchers (Lester, Darvish, Quintana) that started on Opening Day last year. And only two of the starting five were with the team at the beginning of the 2017 campaign.
