The Chicago Cubs made a lot of roster adjustments in the offseason and truly believe they are contenders for the World Series. However, their 2015 campaign did not get off to an ideal start after they fell to the St. Louis Cardinals on Opening Day. Jon Lester did not have the most ideal night with the Cubs as Adam Wainwright stuck out six on the way to a win. Now Chicago will aim to prove they really are a threat for the title as the two teams meet again on Wednesday.
New manager John Maddon was not concerned over Chicago's lack of scoring. The team went 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position while recording 12 strike outs. Lester gave up three runs and eight hits in just over four innings which was not an ideal start to his Chicago tenure. Now Jake Arrieta will take the mound after missing time in 2014 with shoulder tightness before finishing going 10-5 with a 2.53 ERA in 25 starts. He has a solid amount of success against the Cardinals recording 35 strikeouts in 29 innings while being 2-0 in five starts.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals looked pretty par for the course against Chicago. Wainwright had a strong outing while Matt Holiday put up two hits while Jason Heyward had three hits in his debut with the team. Lance Lynn will now look to follow up on the momentum getting his first start of the season. He has 48 wins over the past three seasons while finishing 2014 with a 2.74 ERA while going 15-10. Lynn has been dealing with a hip injury during much of spring training, but the Cardinals are confident he is healthy to begin the year.
The Cardinals will ride the bats of Matt Carpenter and Holliday. They are a combined .425 in their past five games at Wrigley Field. However, against Arrieta they are 0 for 23. Sandwiched between the two batters is Heyward who could pick things up in the lineup as he is 9 for 18 with five doubts in his last four games at the ballpark. The Cardinals hope he can continue with the hitting like he did in his debut.