CUBS LINEUP — Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Freddie Freeman, and Mookie Betts are coming to town for three games against the Cubs this weekend at Wrigley Field. Kyle Hendricks is on the bump for the Cubs today, looking to bounce back from a rough first start against the Texas Rangers (more on that below). In the meantime, here’s a look at the Cubs lineup for Game 1 against the Dodgers fireballing right-hander, Bobby Miller.
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Ian Happ, LF
- Seiya Suzuki, RF
- Cody Bellinger, CF
- Christopher Morel, DH
- Dansby Swanson, SS
- Michael Busch, 1B
- Nico Hoerner, 2B
- Nick Madrigal, 3B
- Yan Gomes, C
It’s a pretty standard Cubs lineup against the Dodgers today, with Yan Gomes filtering back in behind the plate for Miguel Amaya and Nick Madrigal manning third base (Christopher Morel’s defense there has been … arguably worse than we feared to start the year). I’m genuinely not sure how long the Cubs can go if he doesn’t start improving fairly quickly. He’s basically got one error per game there. Not tenable.
But thankfully, Craig Counsell can keep Morel’s bat remains in the Cubs lineup at DH, which means Michael Busch, who’s finally starting to get some results to match his performance, is at first base against his former team. I hope he absolutely shoves it down their throats today and makes them wish he was never traded. Go Cubs. Beat the stupid Dodgers. No one likes them, anyway.
Los Angeles Dodgers Lineup:
- Mookie Betts, SS
- Shohei Ohtani, DH
- Freddie Freeman, 1B
- Will Smith, C
- Max Muncy, 3B
- Teoscar Hernandez, RF
- James Outman, CF
- Chris Taylor, LF
- Gavin Lux, 2B
Pitching Matchup:
Chicago Cubs: Kyle Hendricks, RHP
Despite having full velocity (88.9 MPH), Kyle Hendricks had a horrible 2024 debut against the Rangers in Arlington, lasting just 3.2 innings, while surrendering 5 ER on nine hits and two walks, including two homers. Hendricks did get some groundballs in that game (and the hard contact quality wasn’t really all that awful), but he just did not miss nearly enough bats (only 2 whiffs). That won’t play. And unfortunately, the Dodgers are one hell of a lineup to try to right the ship.
On the bright side, Hendricks has a 3.18 ERA over 126 games at Wrigley Field. So maybe there’ll be some home cooking? I sure hope so. The Cubs lineup may have to bring their big boy bats with them this weekend.
Los Angeles Dodgers: Bobby Miller, RHP
Bobby Miller is a former top-20 prospect in all of baseball, who made his Major League debut last season: 3.76 ERA (3.51 FIP) over 22 starts. Unfortunately, the Cubs never saw him, so that’ll be one advantage leaning Miller’s way. Another advantage for Miller? How about the fact that he throws a 99.3 MPH fastball. As a starter. That is insane.
And to make matters worse, he’s not even one of those guys who has the heat, but can’t command it (6.3 BB% for his MLB career, never higher than 9.8% in the minors). We were happy when Miller carved up the Cardinals to start the year (6.0 IP, 2H, 0ER, 1BB, 11K), but that’s going to be one tough matchup for the Cubs.
Broadcast Info:
Chicago Cubs (4-2) vs Los Angeles Dodgers (7-2) at 1:20 pm CT – MARQ, 670 The Score