Ed. note: I had my eyes dilated earlier, so there might be some goofs in here.
The Cubs evened the series in the early game today, scoring more than five runs for just the third time in 17 games this month. Owen Caissie supplied the first two runs on a single, then hit his first homer to provide a little insurance later. Funny that he wasn’t good enough to be in the lineup just two days ago. I’m sure someone somewhere is praising Craig Counsell for giving Kyle Tucker some time off, but the whole situation is a bad look.
That would have been the case even without Caissie’s big game, then you’ve got the ginger Canadian showing that he is perfectly capable of giving guys a break from time to time. If the hits keep coming, he could force himself into more playing time regardless of Tucker’s ability to right the ship. Getting contributions from the rest of the lineup would help as well.
Jameson Taillon may need all the help he can get in his first game back after spending over a month and a half on the IL. The big righty wasn’t able to complete five innings in any of his last three starts and was looking a little beleaguered, so maybe the time off did him well. He’s going to need to be efficient after Cade Horton’s early departure Monday and the fact that the Cubs are midway through a stretch of 14 games in 13 days.
Michael Busch leads off at first, Ian Happ is in left, Seiya Suzuki is the DH, and Pete Crow-Armstrong plays center. Carson Kelly does the catching, Nico Hoerner is at second, Caissie is in right, Dansby Swanson plays short, and Matt Shaw is at third.
Going heavy on left-handed hitters would normally make sense against a righty, and maybe it’ll work this time, but the Cubs haven’t done too well lately against reverse-split guys. I’ve seen a lot of complaints about this team being beholden to computers and advance metrics, but that sure doesn’t seem to be the case with Counsell’s lineups.
Toeing the slab for the Brewers is righty Brandon Woodruff, a familiar foe from his long tenure in Milwaukee. This will be his first time facing the Cubs in just under two years after missing all of 2024 and about half of ’25 due to shoulder surgery. He came back better than ever and enters this game with a 2.06 ERA and 4-0 record through seven starts. Woodruff’s 33.3% strikeout rate is a career high and his 5.4% walk rate is a career low.
Those things can change in a hurry because they’re based on such a small sample, but the numbers aren’t much out of line with his historical results. Woodruff isn’t the same pitcher as in the past, however, with his fastball sitting around 93 mph instead of the 96-97 in previous years. He’s also throwing the four-seam less often, replacing it with a 90 mph cutter he just started throwing this season.
The fastball still makes up about one-third of his pitches, his riding sinker is just a little behind, and the cutter is at about 12% usage. Despite the decreased velocity, all of his hard stuff has been very effective. They all pale in comparison to a tremendous changeup that has generated the most value overall and on a per-pitch basis. He throws it mainly to lefties, tunneling it well with the four-seam, though he’ll mix it in to righties on occasion.
Woodruff’s 12-6 curve shows up infrequently and isn’t really worth discussing, which means he’ll probably throw it a bunch tonight. One of the most split-neutral pitchers you’ll ever see, the burly veteran has dominated left-handed hitting so far this year. Opposing managers have tried to play the standard odds, but lefties are slashing .120/.170/.254 against Woodruff. His numbers have been markedly better on the road, which doesn’t bode well for the Cubs.
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Whether it’s small ball or an unexpected power surge, the North Siders just need to find a way to win for a sweep on the day and a series lead. First pitch is at 7:05pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.
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The post Chicago Cubs Lineup (8/19/25, Game 2): Busch Peads Off, Caissie in RF, Taillon Returns appeared first on .