Chicago Cubs fans are all too well aware that Anthony Rizzo is headed back to the World Series for the first time since leading that amazing 2016 team to a championship eight years ago. But he's not the only former Cub on this New York Yankees team. A pair of former Cubs pitchers, Mark Leiter Jr. and Marcus Stroman, join him.
Stroman is yet to pitch in a game this postseason - but manager Aaron Boone had the veteran right-hander in mind as a potential bullpen weapon in the ALCS, despite his not being a part of the club's Division Series roster.
“He's had a couple of sim game scenarios to try and keep his volume of pitches up as best we can because he wasn't on the Division Series roster, too, so he threw in the middle of that. But yeah, it's certainly something that he could potentially bring to the table that may become very valuable in this series.”
As we know, Boone never went to Stroman, instead relying on his proven group of postseason relievers - so it'll be interesting to see what role, if any, the right-hander plays during the World Series. He hasn't pitched in a game since Sept. 25 - and that outing against Baltimore was nothing short of a disaster as he stepped back into the rotation and was promptly shelled for six earned and 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings of work.
One of those go-to arms, though, is another former Cubs pitcher in Leiter Jr. Chicago traded the right-hander to New York at the trade deadline this summer in exchange for a pair of prospects and the transition has been anything but smooth for the right-hander. Following the move, he struggled badly with an ERA of 5.24 and a home run rate that skyrocketed.
Like Stroman, he did not appear on the ALDS roster, but made a pair of appearances in the Championship Series, including notching a pair of outs in the Game 5 clincher in Cleveland. His role on the roster may very well depend on the health of Ian Hamilton, whose spot he took on the ALCS roster after the right-hander suffered a calf injury.
With the Cubs watching from home, it's nice to at least have some familiar faces to root for in the World Series - regardless of how you might feel about the Yankees as a team.
