The change of venue from Citi Field to Wrigley Field for the next three games of the NLCS is far from insignificant, and both teams are aware of this.
The wind is expected to blow out to left at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night at over 10 mph, meaning that ordinary fly outs could turn into home runs. It’s also expected to be about 20 degrees warmer in Chicago this week than it was over the weekend in Queens, and the Cubs are very happy about that. “The guys will feel their hands a little bit better,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon told the media after Monday’s practice, “It should work out somewhat better for us offensively.”
Kris Bryant, the Cubs’ slugging third baseman, acknowledged his relief at getting away from the cold, telling reporters, “I’m excited not to wear two long-sleeve shirts.”
Mets’ Game 3 starter Jacob deGrom admitted that the weather will probably alter his pitching strategy for Tuesday night’s contest. “It’s windy here,” deGrom said at a Monday press conference, “the ball carries pretty well. Going into this, my game plan’s going to be to try to get a lot of ground ball outs.” As for the Mets strategy at the plate, Terry Collins offered some insight to the media on Monday.
“You can’t try to hit homers here,” he said, “you have to try and take good swings then things will work out. If the wind is blowing out and you say, ‘let’s see how far I can hit it,’ you’re going to pop up. Just try to get hits.”
Mets blog: Wrigley Field weather could wreak havoc on NLCS
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