Chicago Cubs Lineup (7/8/25): Lefty-Heavy Upper Order, Imanaga Starting

The Cubs enter Tuesday’s game in Minneapolis a season-high 18 games over .500, making them one of only four teams in MLB with a winning percentage of .600 or better. They also own the game’s greatest run differential, boasting a +126 mark that got a lot of help from the Cardinals over the weekend. It’s too bad the Brewers had to beat the Dodgers last night, and badly, but the enemy of my enemy and all that jazz.

Tonight offers an opportunity to build further momentum heading into the break as the Cubs face a Twins team that is pretty meh all the way around. Their offense is in the lower portion of the middle third and their pitching is only slightly better, hence the 43-47 record in a division that features only one decent team.

That’s good news for Shōta Imanaga, who makes the start in his third outing off the IL. He was great in the first two, other than giving up three solo homers out of four hits the other day against the Guardians, and his control issues from early in the season appear to have vanished. With the way the offense has been hitting, all he’s got to do is limit his opponents to under five runs.

Ian Happ will lead off from the left side, followed by Kyle Tucker in right and Seiya Suzuki at DH, Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center, Michael Busch plays first, and Dansby Swanson is at short. Carson Kelly is the catcher, Nico Hoerner plays second, and Matt Shaw handles third.

They’re up against 24-year-old righty Simeon Woods Richardson, who is in his second full season with the Twins after getting cups of coffee in 2022 and ’23. This guy is like one standard deviation removed from being league-average; he’s just slightly worse across most categories. Not many strikeouts, a few too many walks, mildly elevated homers, and not enough grounders. He’s more than capable of shutting teams down and has only allowed one run over his last two starts, it’s just that he’s prone to bad outings.

Woods Richardson’s 93 mph cut/ride fastball has gotten good results, similar to how Justin Steele has found success in spite of below-average velo. It helps that the Twins righty gets really good extension to add a little perceived heat. Outside of that, his stuff leaves a lot to be desired. All but two of his Baseball Savant metrics are blue, and some of them could beat Garry Kasparov.

The 85 mph slider he throws around 30% of the time is okay, perhaps because it gets much less depth than most. Rather than making it a cement mixer, the unexpected shape helps it a bit. His 78 mph curveball, on the other hand, has gotten poor results in spite of creating more depth than most. The 86-87 mph splitter is okay, but the 83 mph changeup has been pretty rough.

Woods Richardson is not as split-heavy with his pitch mix as many of his peers, though he does throw the slider far more often to righties. That could be why his performance against left-handed batters has been so bad this season. They are slashing .306/.374/.481 with a .371 wOBA, all of which are at least 95 points better than their counterparts. That’s very good news for Busch, the reigning NL Player of the Week, and probably Tucker and PCA as well.

First pitch is 6:40pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.

First of three in the Twin Cities.

Watch the game live on the Marquee Sports Network App. pic.twitter.com/a8Cv6FoG4y

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) July 8, 2025