(670 The Score) With the start to this shortened 60-game MLB season looming in nine days, the Cubs have yet to name their Opening Day starter, but the two candidates are clear.
The Cubs could give the ball to right-hander Yu Darvish or right-hander Kyle Hendricks when they host the Brewers at Wrigley Field on July 24. Both Darvish and Hendricks have been pitching on the same scrimmage day, including in the team's intrasquad game at Wrigley Field on Tuesday evening.
"Right now, I'd say it's between those two guys just because they're lined up that day," pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said on the Mully & Haugh Show on Wednesday morning. "We have ways of adjusting if things happen."
While some teams have already declared an Opening Day starter, the Cubs aren't quite at that point. It involves a complication beyond baseball.
With the coronavirus testing occurring every other day, teams must be prepared to lose a player on short notice -- either for a positive test or potential delay in the results. So the Cubs are preparing for either Darvish or Hendricks to go on Opening Day.
"The way we usually do it in a normal spring training fashion, you kind of have an idea of a couple options that are going to be Opening Day starters," Hottovy said. "And you have 35, 40 days to kind of let that play out. We don't have that luxury.
"What we've tried to do is frontload all our starters in games so that way we can cover ourselves if somebody has a positive or somebody has a little nagging injury. We kind of have an idea who we'd like being in those positions. But a lot of what we're up against is just a pending test or a little nagging injury that can set that off.
"We're still taking it day-to-day hoping to see how guys recover from their outings, get back negative tests. Hopefully, I would imagine in the next three to four days, we can solidify something for opening day."
Veteran left-hander Jon Lester has been the Cubs' starter on Opening Day in four of the last five seasons, including 2019.
