![\"Cubs](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/5f80592\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3240x2160+300+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F24666421%2FAP23134089742984.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMESA, Ariz. \u2013\u00a0Cubs\u00a0third baseman\u00a0Christopher Morel<\/b>\u00a0spotted Cardinals catcher\u00a0Willson Contreras<\/b>\u00a0standing by the batting cages at the Cubs spring training complex, talking with Cubs reliever\u00a0Adbert Alzolay<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Morel ran up to his former teammate and jumped into a hug. It was a heartwarming beginning to the Cubs and Cardinals\u2019 rivalry games this year.<\/p>\n
The division foes are facing off for two exhibition games in Mesa to wrap up spring training, with the Cardinals traveling west from their Grapefruit League base in Jupiter, Florida. The Cubs lost 6-3 on Monday.<\/p>\n
The Cubs will open the season at Texas on Thursday, and the Cardinals head to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost managers and players are always wary when they are playing somebody right away after spring training games,\u201d manager\u00a0Craig Counsell<\/b>\u00a0said when asked about the division matchup. \u201cBut other than that, I don’t think we generally get that wary of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He gave the example of playing the Rangers last week.\u00a0Opening Day starter\u00a0Justin Steele<\/b>\u00a0pitched in a minor-league game instead of facing Texas so close to the regular season. Only two pitchers who made the Cubs Opening Day roster pitched in that game:\u00a0Javier Assad<\/b>, who is lined up to make his first start of the season against the Rockies at Wrigley Field, and reliever\u00a0Yency Almonte<\/b>.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a bunch of pitchers a little wary about that one,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cBut when you’re not playing [the Cardinals] until [late May] \u2013 we used to play them 20 times.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the balanced schedule, teams only play 14 games against each division rival in a season, instead of the 19-game slate prior to 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess theoretically, for a starter, you could still make four starts against a team,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cI’m sure there will be a starter in the division that we face four times. But then you if you talk to Kyle Hendricks, you’re like, \u2018Does that really matter?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Hendricks, who has spent his decade-long major-league career with the Cubs, has made between 24 and 34 starts against each team in the NL Central. Against the Brewers, who Counsell managed for nine years and who Hendricks faced the most, he had a 3.46 ERA.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s the beauty of baseball,\u201d Counsell said, \u201cthat cat-and-mouse, and those subtle adjustments that Kyle and [Cardinals first baseman]\u00a0Paul Goldschmidt<\/b>\u00a0are making against each other game to game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taillon live BP<\/h3>\n
Right-hander\u00a0Jameson Taillon<\/b>\u00a0(low back tightness) threw a one inning of live batting practice on Monday. It was a positive step, as he progressed from a pair of bullpen sessions last week.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s scheduled to throw another live BP session Friday. If all goes well, the next step will be for him to get into a minor-league game, but the Cubs have not yet decided where he will begin that buildup, Counsell said.<\/p>\n
Left fielder\u00a0Ian Happ<\/b>\u00a0returned to the lineup Monday as planned, after Counsell said over the weekend that his recovery from a left hamstring strain had \u201cplateaued.\u201d<\/p>\n
Counsell said Monday that Happ was \u201con track.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roster moves<\/h3>\n
In addition to\u00a0optioning outfielder\u00a0Alexander Canario<\/b>\u00a0and right-hander\u00a0Hayden Wesneski<\/b>\u00a0to Triple-A on Monday, the Cubs announced they’d returned catcher\u00a0Joe Hudson<\/b>\u00a0to minor-league camp and released catcher\u00a0Jorge Alfaro<\/b>. Last week the Cubs notified the two catchers, both on non-roster invite deals, that they hadn’t made the team out of camp.<\/p>\n
Cardinals 6, Cubs<\/h3>\n
The Cubs (17-13-3) rolled out a version of the lineup that will likely be seen in the regular season, if not Opening Day.\u00a0Ian Happ<\/b>\u00a0led off, with\u00a0Seiya Suzuki<\/b>\u00a0batting second,\u00a0Cody Bellinger<\/b>\u00a0in the three-hole and\u00a0Christopher Morel\u00a0<\/b>hitting cleanup.\u00a0Dansby Swanson<\/b>,\u00a0Nico Hoerner<\/b>,\u00a0Michael Busch<\/b>,\u00a0Yan Gomes<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0Mike Tauchman<\/b>\u00a0filled out the rest of the batting order.<\/p>\n
- \n
- In his last spring training start, lefty\u00a0Jordan Wicks<\/b>\u00a0held the Cardinals to one run through four innings. \u201cFirst two innings was a little bit off line, wasn’t really moving as efficiently as I felt like I could have,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then we made that adjustment in game, which is going to be something I’m going to have to do this year.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Suzuki hit his fifth and sixth home runs of spring training on Monday, going 2-for-2. He\u2019s been the Cubs\u2019 hottest hitter in spring.<\/li>\n
- On deck: Cardinals at Cubs, 2:10 Monday, Mesa, Marquee,\u00a0Kyle Gibson<\/b>\u00a0vs.\u00a0Shota Imanaga<\/b>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Cub Willson Contreras and the Cardinals faced the Cubs in an exhibition game Monday. MESA, Ariz. \u2013\u00a0Cubs\u00a0third baseman\u00a0Christopher Morel\u00a0spotted Cardinals catcher\u00a0Willson Contreras\u00a0standing by the batting cages… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":110225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}