John Lackey

John Lackey to start Game 1 of division series for Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher John Lackey will start Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Friday.

What It Means:

Lackey and the Cardinals will be facing the winner of Wednesday's National League Wild Card Game between the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates. With Carlos Martinez done for the season, the rest of the duties will likely fall to Michael Wacha, Jaime Garcia, and Lance Lynn.

Lackey wrapped up his age-36 regular season with a 3.77 xFIP after averaging 7.22 strikeouts and 2.19 walks per nine innings. He was even better than that over the second half of the season, posting a 3.31 xFIP over 100 2/3 innings. The main issue with Lackey is his struggles against left-handed batters. Both the Pirates and Cubs have big powerful left-handed bats, and Lackey's xFIP jumps to 4.92 against lefties.