That’s the same lineup Ron Washington used in Game 4, so he’s sticking with a struggling Mitch Moreland at first base and leaving Mike Napoli’s team-leading OPS in the eighth spot. In fact, among all hitters in baseball to play 100 or more games this season Napoli had the second-highest OPS behind only Jose Bautista. As we saw last night that’s one helluva eighth-place hitter, but it would also be one helluva cleanup hitter.
St. Louis, on the other hand, is shaking things up after being shut out in Game 4. Skip Schumaker, who missed the entire NLCS with an oblique injury and hasn’t started a game in the World Series, has replaced Jon Jay in center field. Jay is just 8-for-51 (.167) in the playoffs, including 0-for-14 in the World Series, but Schumaker is also a left-handed batter and has hit just .222 with a .560 OPS versus left-handed pitching during the past three seasons.