Yadier Molina to catch Game 1 for Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina is in the lineup and will bat seventh Friday for Game 1 of the National League Division Series.

What It Means:

Molina has been out since September 20th with a thumb injury. He saw a hand specialist earlier in the week and was given the go to get back into the lineup.

Molina had a wretched second half of the season, so the team will hope the time off helped. He posted a .249/.290/.339 slash with just a 22.7 hard-hit rate. He'll go up against Chicago Cubs' lefty Jon Lester on Friday. Molina's hard-hit rate does increase to 27.7 percent against lefties, but Lester sports a 3.24 xFIP against righties. It will be tough for Molina to get his bat going if he hasn't improved in the time off.