Cubs shaking things up in an effort to get Willson Contreras going at the plate

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ST. LOUIS — No Major League Baseball manager will ever write out the same lineup for an entire season.

It probably isn't even realistic to expect a manager to run out the same lineup for an entire WEEK.

So everybody clamoring for the Cubs to keep things consistent needs to know they'll never, ever get their wish.

Especially with Joe Maddon as the Cubs manager.

Maddon may be the oldest manager in the game, but he's also one of the most forward-thinking skippers, too. Just because something worked in the past doesn't mean it will work again in the future.

And that's how Maddon makes his lineups: With the future in mind.

That's why Willson Contreras was in the leadoff spot for Sunday night's series finale with the Cardinals and the move immediately paid dividends. Contreras picked up his first hit since April 29 on the second pitch of the game and later came around to score on Anthony Rizzo's sacrifice fly.

This was only the third career start at leadoff for Contreras and much like the Rizzo experience last week, Maddon used it as a way to try to get one of the team's most important hitters going.

"Just try to simplify things, and he's got the energy to [lead off]," Maddon said. "I think it might perk him up a little bit. And so for all those different reasons, we gave it a shot."

Maddon wanted the Cubs star catcher to think more about having a good plate appearance rather than trying to chase basehits.

Contreras woke up Sunday morning hitting .235 with a .700 OPS, 1 homer, 7 RBI and 7 runs scored while also mired in an 0-for-14 stretch.

The early-season lull appears to be a recurring theme for Contreras, though he's only two years into his big-league career. 

On May 6 of 2017, Contreras was hitting .217 with a .643 OPS, 2 homers, 12 RBI and 9 runs scored. From that point forward, he hit .293 with a .914 OPS, 19 homers, 62 RBI and 41 runs scored in 91 games (75 starts). 

The Cubs didn't experience those early-season struggles in 2016. Contreras came up and hit the very first MLB pitch he saw into the centerfield bleachers at Wrigley.

The young catcher did his part to try to get past the 2018 struggles, getting married on Thursday's off-day after having his nuptials denyed twice by rainouts earlier in the Cubs' season.

But what's behind these early-season issues?

"Probably just getting a little bit long with his swing and trying to do too much," Maddon said. "Getting in on him a lot, jammed, a lot of rollover ground balls.

"... I thought I saw a lot of this last year. I'm seeing it again this year and it might be who he is. It's that first month or so of the season. Because when I saw him the first time, he had already been in the minor leagues and by the time we saw him, he was different, he was on top of everything.

"Last year, I thought it was a slower start, then he caught his stride."

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