Major League Baseball

The Latest: Soler in RF for Cubs, Santana in LF for Indians

Published Oct. 28, 2016 5:17 p.m. ET

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CHICAGO (AP) The Latest on the World Series, Game 3 at Wrigley Field on Friday night (all times Central):

3 p.m.

Jorge Soler is the starting right fielder for the Chicago Cubs for Game 3, and Carlos Santana is in left for the Cleveland Indians .

The Cubs tried to get Kyle Schwarber medically cleared to play left, but doctors said no on Thursday. That meant Ben Zobrist stayed in left instead of moving to right, and manager Joe Maddon decided on Soler for right.

Chicago also had rookie Willson Contreras at catcher, batting fifth. Soler was in the sixth slot, followed by second baseman Javier Baez, shortstop Addison Russell and pitcher Kyle Hendricks.

Santana, Cleveland's usual designated hitter, was playing his second career game in left. He also played four innings at the position in 2012.

Santana also was in the leadoff spot. Rookie Tyler Naquin got the start in center, batting eighth, and Lonnie Chisenhall was in right, batting sixth.

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2:15 p.m.

Those notorious, game-changing winds are beginning to whip at Wrigley Field.

After a fairly calm morning in Chicago, the wind is picking up and heavy gusts of 40 mph are expected during Game 3, which could send some routine fly balls to left field into the bleachers - or on to Waveland Avenue - for home runs.

Hey, this is the Windy City.

The flags bearing the retired jersey numbers of Cubs greats Ernie Banks, Ron Santos and Ferguson Jenkins, were flapping in a stiff breeze atop the left-field foul pole as members of the grounds crew prepared the infield as a dozen pigeons circled the pitching mound.

The wind has always been a factor at Wrigley, turning pitching duels into high-scoring affairs or knocking down balls that might otherwise be over the wall.

It could be a problem for the Indians, who are expected to start designated hitter Carlos Santana in left. He's only played four innings there in his career.

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1:20 p.m.

After waiting 71 years to witness a World Series game, Chicago Cubs fans can hardly contain themselves.

More than six hours before the first pitch of Game 3, thousands of fans - many of them wearing jerseys with names like Banks, Sandberg and Rizzo on their backs - were already in the streets ringing Wrigley Field on Friday as the Cubs prepared to play the Cleveland Indians.

It's the first Series game at the fabled ballpark since 1945, and many Chicagoans skipped work to begin a weekend of baseball they'll never forget.

There was a long line outside Murphy's Bleachers, the renowned tavern on the corner of Sheffield and Waveland Avenues. Vendors worked the crowd, one of them peddling a T-shirt that said, "I Ain't Afraid of No Goat."

Generations of Cubs fans believed their team was denied a trip to the Series partly because of "The Curse of the Billy Goat," which began when a Chicago tavern owner supposedly put a hex on the team after it refused to let his pet goat, Murphy, into Wrigley Field during the '45 Series.

The Cubs haven't won the World Series since 1908. It's only been a 68-year drought for the Indians, who last won it all in 1948.

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