ts going to make the Masters to exciting, you can build a case

CLEVELAND -- After hitting a double and talking a walk in four plate appearances in his Arizona Fall League finale, Chicago Cubs outfielder/catcher Kyle Schwarber was on his way to Cleveland on Monday night and could be his teams designated hitter in Tuesdays Game 1 of the World Series against the Indians.Reports are good, manager Joe Maddon said Monday afternoon. Hes swinging the bat well. Hes running really well, actually. Hes done some sliding drills, all that kind of stuff to just test the whole thing out.Schwarber, 23, has missed all but 2.5 games of the season with torn ligaments in his left knee after colliding with teammate Dexter Fowler in the outfield. He was cleared by his doctor last Monday to swing and run, but he cant play the field. He would be the first player to be out this long and play in the World Series, but the Cubs feel hes a special player with a special swing.His will is bigger than most, hitting coach John Mallee said. You would think it would be a little tougher not playing. See it and hit it. Thats him. I just saw his swing the other day and he hasnt missed a beat. Guess its like riding a bike for him.Schwarber is from Ohio and made his debut against the Indians, going 4-for-5 in his first career start at Progressive Field in June 2015. Last October, he hit five home runs for the Cubs, making him their career postseason home run leader. Hes also a fan favorite. With the designated hitter available for the first two games, Schwarber is likely to be in the starting lineup, which wont be announced until Tuesday.Hes given us another option to think about, Maddon said.The World Series rosters are due at 10 a.m. Tuesday.Schwarber hit 16 home runs to go along with a .355 on-base percentage after coming up from the minors in 2015. Kansas City Royals Shirts . 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Royals Jerseys China . - Chris Tierney snapped a tie with a power-play goal late in the third period as the London Knights rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Erie Otters 5-3 in Ontario Hockey League action on Wednesday.Paul McGinley is expecting next months Masters to be one of the most closely contested in recent history with so many players having a realistic chance at the first major of the year. Adam Scott has been in the best form of the worlds top 10 over the last month, following up his second-placed finish at Riviera with back-to-back victories in the Honda Classic and the WGC-Cadillac Championship in Florida.But two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson, who pipped Scott at the Northern Trust Open, has also enjoyed an excellent start to the year while defending champion Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy are expected to be in contention on Sunday afternoon at Augusta. Adam Scott has finished second, first and first in his last three starts Ideally, all the players want to be where Adam Scott is right now, McGinley told Sky Sports News HQ. Hes gone second-win-win in his last three starts, and thats where you want to be. But thats not always applicable and not everybody can have that kind of form.I think Jordan Spieth is there or thereabouts, but you could raise an argument for six or seven guys who are going into the Masters with a lot of form and a lot of history around there, and theres no reason why they cant win. Its going to be a very exciting Masters, and its very difficult to pick a winner.Spieth is widely regarded as the best putter in the world, while McIlroys change to a cross-handed grip for the first World Golf Championship event of the year at Doral resulted in an improved performance on the greens which will stand him in good stead for the Masters. Jordan Spieth emerged as one of the best putters in the world when he stormed to Masters glory last year McGinley added: Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and Spieths strength is definitely his putting. He started off like a train at Augusta last year, and Rory McIlroy was 11 or 12 shots behind before he had even started his second round.Jordan put such a huge distance between himself and the rest of the field and went on to win his first Masters. But the putting is the strongest part of his game. Hes not blessed with the kind of power that Bubba Watson or Rory McIlroy has, but wed all like to be able to putt as well as Jordan Spieth.The interesting thing about Rorys putting is hes always felt he is left-hand dominant with the putter. So he changed to a left-below-right putting grip at Doral and still felt his left hand would control the stroke. The way he putted in the second and third rounds at Doral were as good as hes ever putted. Rory McIlroy new putting technique served him well at Doral I think that will give him a lot of confidence and inspiration going into the Masters.dddddddddddd We know how good his long game is, and when he gets hot with the putter, hes pretty formidable.McIlroy is currently the favourite with Sky Bet as he bids to complete a career grand slam of majors, but McGinley added: Its so difficult to pick a winner, particularly when the difference between the top 10 players in the world is so small. Anybody can turn up, show a bit of form and win.We saw that when Charl Schwartzel won the Valspar Championship at the weekend. Hes won at Augusta in the past, so you cant discount the likes of him and Louis Oosthuizen, who won in Australia a couple of weeks ago. Louis lost out to Bubba in a play-off in 2012, and Bubba has won twice around there now. Bubba Watsons early-season form and stats bode well for another big week at Augusta Theres a lot of good form and trends in terms of Bubbas stats this year, so youve got to look closely at him. This is whats going to make the Masters to exciting, you can build a case for so many different players.The feature of Scotts remarkable recent form has been his outstanding putting after he was forced to revert to a traditional-length putter following the ban on anchored putting that was enforced at the start of the year. Scott is putting better than ever since reverting to a short putter Adam used the long putter for years because he basically had the yips with the short stick, McGinley said. He won the Masters using the long putter and then had a couple of average years, and then he was forced to go back to a traditional putter because of the ban on the anchored technique which came in on January 1.And over the last month, hes actually putted better than he ever has, but can he hold onto that form for another month? Thats the big question, because we know how hard it is to sustain that kind of form for any length of time. But certainly he has the form and the confidence at the moment, and obviously hes a past winner at Augusta. Also See: Schwartzel wins Valspar World-class Willett Opinion Rory must be patient ' ' '