Cubs vs Rays: Lineups, Pitching Matchup, Broadcast Info, Game Thread

Nothing like facing the best team in baseball when you’re down BAD. Here’s a look at the Cubs lineup for their Memorial Day matchup against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Chicago Cubs Lineup:

  1. Miles Mastrobuoni, 3B
  2. Nico Hoerner, 2B
  3. Ian Happ, LF
  4. Seiya Suzuki, RF
  5. Dansby Swanson, SS
  6. Mike Tauchman, CF
  7. Edwin Rios, DH
  8. Matt Mervis, 1B
  9. Tucker Barnhart, C

Tucker Barnhart is starting, so naturally, so is Miles Mastrobuoni and Edwin Rios. It’s like clockwork. With that said, today’s Rays starter, Taj Bradley, has been a lot tougher on lefties than righties. So … confusion. Must be something under the hood about the small sample.

For what it’s worth, I think that’s also the reason we’re seeing Dansby Swanson (fifth) and Nico Hoerner (second) batting in completely different spots this afternoon. At first, I thought this was the first “shake-it-up” Cubs lineup of the year given all the struggles. But I think it’s really just the lefty thing. Hopefully it makes a difference.

Tampa Bay Rays Lineup:

  1. TBA

Pitching Matchup:

Chicago Cubs: Marcus Stroman, RHP

Marcus Stroman is back on another great stretch, with six innings of one-run ball against the Phillies and eight innings of two-run ball against the Mets. He had a hiccup a few games ago, but has been mostly lights out all season long.

Tampa Bay Rays: Taj Bradley, RHP

Today, the Cubs lineup will face 22-year old righty (and recent top-50 prospect) Taj Bradley, who’s just five starts into his big league career. And while the results haven’t been great just yet (4.44 ERA), he does have 34 strikeouts in just 24.1 IP against just four walks! The contact has been a little bit on the hard side, but not terribly so … my bet is he’s actually quite good, as everyone suspected. Great.

Broadcast Info:

Chicago Cubs (22-30) vs Tampa Bay rays (39-16) at 1:20 pm CT on MARQ, 670 The Score

written by

Michael Cerami began covering the Chicago Cubs for Bleacher Nation as a part-time contributor in 2015. One year later, he joined Bleacher Nation full-time, covering the Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball. Today, Michael runs Bleacher Nation, contributing as a writer (Cubs, MLB) and an editor for all sections of the site, including the Chicago Bears, Bulls, and Blackhawks, as well as MLB, NBA, NHL, and NFL. In 2019, Michael was the co-host of NBC Sports Chicago's Cubs Post-Game Show Outside the Ivy. You can find him on Twitter/X @Michael_Cerami

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