No Lefties in Bullpen, Opening Day Lineup, Bets to Make for Cubs vs. Brewers
It is finally here, Opening Day is upon us. Let’s go!
No LHP in Cubs Opening Day Bullpen
The Cubs announced their 26-man Opening Day roster and after a few days of speculation it was confirmed that the bullpen won’t have any left-handed pitchers in it to begin the season. The lone lefty that was guaranteed a spot, Brandon Hughes, is on the 15-day injured list. Hughes, who made his MLB debut last year, dealt with a knee issue in spring training and will stay behind to build back up after he was briefly sidelined from game action.
The Cubs eight-man bullpen on Opening Day is made up of the following righties.
Michael Fulmer
Brad Boxberger
Adbert Alzolay
Keegan Thompson
Julian Merryweather
Michael Rucker
Javier Assad
Mark Leiter Jr.
Although manager David Ross won’t have a lefty to turn to out of the bullpen, Mark Leiter Jr. grabbed the final reliever spot in place of Hughes because he had outstanding numbers against left-handed hitters in 2022.
Meanwhile, the starting rotation will be Marcus Stroman, Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon, Drew Smyly and Hayden Wesneski.
Here are the 13 position players on the Opening Day roster.
Yan Gomes, Tucker Barnhart, Luis Torrens
Eric Hosmer, Nico Hoerner, Dansby Swanson, Patrick Wisdom
Ian Happ, Cody Bellinger, Trey Mancini
Edwin Rios, Miles Mastrobuoni, Nick Madrigal
Outfielder Seiya Suzuki and starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks along with Hughes begin the season on the injured list. Right-handed relievers Codi Heuer and Ethan Roberts are on the 60-day injured list.
Cubs Opening Day Lineup vs. Brewers
Marcus Stroman is on the bump and here’s the starting lineup behind him.
So, with no Seiya Suzuki the Cubs are going with left-handed hitting utility man Miles Mastrobuoni as the starting right fielder against right-handed pitcher Corbin Burnes.
A couple more observations. David Ross decided not to split up Ian Happ and Cody Bellinger, both lefties to begin the game against Burnes, while Patrick Wisdom got the nod at third base over Edwin Rios and Nick Madrigal. We’ll see how much the lineup changes when Suzuki returns from his oblique strain, but it seems like Nico Hoerner, Dansby Swanson and Happ will be the top three hitters in the lineup most of the time this year.
3 Bets to Make on Cubs vs. Brewers
I’m going to use FanDuel’s odds for all of these bet suggestions.
Nico Hoerner is leading off against Corbin Burnes and we all remember what happened on Opening Day 2022.
Hoerner hasn’t seen Burnes much, going 2-for-8 against him, but he was hitting line drives throughout spring training and has to be feeling great after agreeing to his three-extension with the Cubs.
Bet to make: Nico Hoerner to record a hit and score a run PARLAY (+181)
Although the Cubs did get to Burnes last year on Opening Day, there’s no doubt that he’s a scary matchup for any team, but especially for this Cubs lineup. Lots of strikeout rates in the 20 percent and above range today and Burnes is a big strikeout pitcher.
Dansby Swanson, Ian Happ, Cody Bellinger, Trey Mancini, Yan Gomes and Patrick Wisdom all have 23% strikeout rates or higher in their career.
Bet to make: Corbin Burnes over 6.5 strikeouts (-138)
Last, but certainly not least, if you really want to get frisky, let’s take a shot at betting on a Cubs player to hit a home run.
In his career, Dansby Swanson is 6-for-11, with 2 home runs against Corbin Burnes. Swanson might strikeout a few times today, but he does do damage against high velocity. And after a brutal spring training overall, it seemed liked Swanson was finally getting his timing down in the final week of Cactus League games, hitting home runs in the last two games he played in.
Bet to make: Dansby Swanson to hit a home run (+630)