Cubs Set Division Series Roster

The Cubs announced their division series roster Friday morning and there was really only one surprise — Albert Almora Jr. making the roster over Matt Szczur. It appears Joe Maddon and the front office valued Almora’s defense over Szczur’s bench bat.

As I expected (and so did others), the Cubs will take 11 pitchers and 14 position players into the NLDS against the Giants. This will give Maddon quite a bit of flexibility in making defensive changes or pinch-hitting. Since only four starters are needed, that left room for more bench players.

Here’s the 25-man roster.

Pitchers

Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jake Arrieta, John Lackey, Aroldis Chapman, Hector Rondon, Pedro Strop, Justin Grimm, Travis Wood, Mike Montgomery, Carl Edwards Jr.

Catchers

David Ross, Miguel Montero, Willson Contreras

Infielders

Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist, Addison Russell, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Tommy La Stella

Outfielders

Dexter Fowler, Jason Heyward, Jorge Soler, Albert Almora Jr., Chris Coghlan