Mookie Betts will shift over to center field Monday night, spelling Jackie Bradley Jr. as the Red Sox welcome the Cubs into Fenway Park.
It's frankly pretty surprising to see Jake Peavy still taking his scheduled start after his last terrible outing. That seemed like it might well be the death knell for Peavy's time in Boston, but here he is, ready to go again.
At the very least, this time he'll have much easier competition. The Cubs top only the Padres in terms of offense, so if Peavy can't beat them, he can't beat much of anyone. Maybe a good outing here helps the Red Sox find a taker for him, but at this point I'm not sure even a perfect game elicits much interest. A 4.93 ERA, 6.75 K/9, and 3.47 BB/9 made for a pretty bad pitcher five years ago. With the league the way it is now, it's pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrell.
The lineup, meanwhile, will be dealing with Jake Arrieta, who seems to finally be living up to the expectations some had for him roughly five years back. He'll have to prove it over more than just 60 innings, but a team that's struggled as much as Boston can ill-afford to take it easy against a pitcher who has had as much success as Arrieta has had this season.
First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. EST with broadcasts on NESN and WEEI.