Gausman and Holmes Debut — Cubs vs Royals Series Preview

Cubs vs Royals — The Cubs, fresh off a three-game sweep of the Dodgers and a comeback win over the Blue Jays, are headed to Kansas City to face the Royals. Two of the Cubs’ big deadline acquisitions, Kevin Gausman (Friday) and Clay Holmes (Saturday), are set to debut this weekend. And then, on Sunday, Matthew Boyd will look to continue his strong performance since coming off the IL.

Overall, the Royals offense has been below average this season (95 wRC+, 21st in MLB), even worse in the second half (89 wRC+), and about equal versus lefties (94 wRC+) and righties (96 wRC+). They have, however, been significantly better at home (104 wRC+) than on the road (89 wRC+).

Even still, you have to like the Cubs’ chances with those three on the mound. If no one else makes a surprise return off the Injured List or has an incredible stretch run leading up to October, you might imagine those guys as the top three starters in a theoretical Cubs playoff rotation. Shota Imanaga is probably getting short-changed there a bit, because he has also been excellent for a while. But we know how homers can bite him. And homers hurt disproportionately in the postseason. With any luck, they’ll need more than three starters anyway.

On the flip side, Daniel Lynch IV (currently a dominant reliever) will get the start in game one against the Cubs this weekend. But he’s not quite an “opener.” From the sound of it, the Royals are giving him a chance to try his hand at starting full time: “We’re going to probably take a shot at putting him there [and] see how it goes,” manager Matt Quatraro said via MLB.com. “He’s thrown a couple of innings before. We’ll see how far he can get [Friday]. But we’ll do it responsibly. With the injuries we’ve had, we have a spot in the rotation.”

Lynch has a 1.96 ERA through 46.0 IP this season. He doesn’t strike a lot of guys out, but he doesn’t walk many either, and he gets plenty of groundballs. We’ll have a little more on him in the Pre-Gamin’ post later today. Given his traditional lefty/righty splits, you might expect to see Ian Happ back on the bench with Tyrone Taylor out in left field. But we’ll see. It’s not supposed to be a strict platoon, but … maybe it should be.

On Saturday, the Cubs will get Seth Lugo, who is a couple of years past his peak. This season, Lugo has a 4.41 ERA with far worse peripherals.

On Sunday, the Cubs will face Randy Dobnak, a 31-year-old righty with a 1.16 ERA (but a 4.22 FIP) through 31.0 IP (four starts, two relief appearances). His walk and strikeout rates are both pretty horrible, but he is a groundball machine.

Here’s who’s been hot for the Cubs in the second half of the season:

• Pete Crow-Armstrong: 171 wRC+
• Nico Hoerner: 162 wRC+
• Seiya Suzuki: 165 wRC+
• Alex Bregman: 134 wRC+

Ian Happ, by contrast, has really struggled (68 wRC+) with a 28.7% strikeout rate.

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After this series, the Cubs have an off-day Monday, followed by three games against the Nationals on the road. Then, the Cubs come back home to face the Cardinals and White Sox, before heading west to take on the Mariners and Diamondbacks. Relative to the rest of the season, this is the easiest stretch they have remaining. Gotta take advantage.

Cubs vs Royals – Matchups and Probables

Cubs vs Royals – Key Injuries: