Chicago Cubs Lineup (4/25/25): Suzuki DH, Kelly Catching, Rea Starting
The start of today’s game has been delayed by rain, but they should be able to get it once the weather passes.
The Cubs are 16-10 and come into the weekend well-rested after a two-game sweep of the Dodgers that was bookended by days off. Almost everything is clicking for Craig Counsell‘s crew, save for third base and the bullpen. It’s not just that they’ve gotten subpar performances from those areas, it’s the lack of consistency. Being able to find a regular cadence in the ‘pen and having the hot corner held down by the same person on a semi-regular basis would be nice.
In the meantime, the Cubs will have to keep getting strong starts and a bunch of offense to ensure the other issues remain merely inconvenient. Colin Rea has been far better than expected through five appearances, the last two of which are one-run starts. He’s thrown 68 and 69 pitches in each, so perhaps Counsell will let him get to 70 in this one. Rea will give up his share of hits, but he’s a strike-thrower with just one walk issued.
As long as he keeps doing that and doesn’t beat himself, the bats should be able to carry the Cubs most nights. That starts with Ian Happ in left, Kyle Tucker in right, and Seiya Suzuki back in the lineup at DH after another scratch due to his bothersome wrist acting up. Michael Busch cleans up at first, Dansby Swanson is starting to come around at short, Nico Hoerner is at second, and Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center. Carson Kelly does the catching and Jon Berti is at third.
They’re facing righty Taijuan Walker, who is now in his fourth season with the Phils. Walker’s four-seam and sinker are pedestrian at best and his breaking stuff is below-average, but he’s gotten really good results from the splitter he throws a quarter of the time. It’s his favorite pitch in a very balanced repertoire, though that’s mainly a function of matchups.
The splitter, four-seam, and curve are throwing mainly to left-handed batters, with the slider and sinker getting heavier usage against righties. Given they don’t often see his best pitches, those righties are tuning Walker up so far. He’s always pitched to very mild reverse splits, almost even, but righty batters are slashing .278/.350/.472 with both homers against him. Those numbers are skewed by a stinker in San Francisco, so we’ll see how things play out this afternoon.
Of course, the Cubs have done a pretty good job of making otherwise good pitchers look like BP tossers. Just look at how they jumped all over Dustin May the other day. This group has had a great deal of success against Walker in the past, posting an aggregate .804 OPS with a pair of homers and seven doubles over 93 at-bats. Happ is the only player on the roster who has really struggled, which makes sense as a lefty, going 1-for-12 with five strikeouts and four walks. Interestingly enough, the homers came from Vidal Bruján and Justin Turner.
First pitch from Wrigley is at 1:20pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.
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— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 25, 2025
