The Cubs managed to squeak out a W in near-record time Friday afternoon, beating the Orioles by a score of 1-0 in a game that lasted just one hour and 49 minutes. That’s 60 seconds shy of the fastest game ever played at Wrigley Field, which is pretty incredible when you consider the Cubs used five pitchers to earn the shutout. Baltimore starter Trevor Rogers went the distance, needing 88 pitches to complete his eight innings.
Despite what some Philistines will tell you, Wrigley isn’t some kind of hitters’ paradise where howling winds carry every fly ball into the streets and where the basket provides the benefit of the doubt to lazy pop-ups. Over a rolling three-year period, Wrigley ranks 24th for overall park factor and 16th for home runs. It’s playing a little better this season, though I’d attribute that in large part to the roster being stronger.
It looks like the breeze will be blowing in from right-center this afternoon on what otherwise figures to be a perfect day for baseball. What better way to further celebrate the legacy of an icon taken from us too soon? I spent some time late last night watching Ryne Sandberg tribute videos on YouTube, which paired nicely with my rewatch of The Life of Chuck. Talk about a great way to put a middle-aged man in his feels.
There will probably be a few onions cut at the ballpark and in various households across Cubdom today as the team honors Ryno by wearing blue jerseys with No. 23 and no names on the back. This after having Shawon Dunston, Rick Sutcliffe, and Jody Davis deliver second base to the field for Friday’s contest. Those who are susceptible to a bit of schmaltzy tropery might dig the idea that Sandberg helped to push that Tyler O’Neill fly ball back just enough for Ian Happ to secure it for the last out.
If that’s the case, the Cubs could use a little more help the rest of the way as well. Matthew Boyd hasn’t needed much assistance for the most part, but he’s coming off one of his two worst starts of the season after giving up five earned runs in as many innings against the Brewers. That’s as many as he’d surrendered over his previous seven starts combined, which wasn’t nearly as concerning as issuing five walks with only two strikeouts.
The former total was as many as he’d walked over his previous six starts and the latter was just the second time he’d gotten fewer than three punchies. Even with a depleted O’s roster, it’ll take a much better effort to put up another W. Same goes for the offense, which can’t depend on a goose egg from the staff.
Michael Busch will lead off at first base, followed by Kyle Tucker in right and Seiya Suzuki at DH. Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center, Happ is in left, new addition Willi Castro is at second, and Nico Hoerner takes short. Reese McGuire is the catcher and Matt Shaw handles the hot corner.
They’re facing “rookie” righty Tomoyuki Sugano, a 35-year-old in his first MLB season following a decorated career in Japan. Never much of a strikeout pitcher, his inability to miss bats at this level has resulted in quite a few home runs. Limiting walks and getting a fair number of grounders has mitigated a lot of the damage from those 21 dingers in 109 innings, but he’s had a lot of trouble going deep in games on a consistent basis.
That could be a matter of stamina, as Sugano had a two-month stretch in which he went at least five innings in nine straight starts. He went seven or more in four of those, but hasn’t gone that deep in any of his last eight starts and has gone less than five innings five times. His splits are fairly even, a product of having a very good splitter he throws mainly to lefties and an excellent sweeper for righties.
Those are his top pitches in terms of results and usage, but they haven’t been able to outweigh a fastball, sinker, and curve that have been flat-out bad. Sugano’s hard stuff is around 92-93 mph, with a little cut on his heater and ride on his sinker. The curve comes in at 78 and gets good depth, it just hasn’t fooled hitters. The 87 mph splitter is a firm offering that doesn’t get much depth, relying instead on ride and run.
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His sweeper comes in around 83 mph with less horizontal movement than similar pitches, allowing him to paint the outside edge against right-handed hitters. It’s almost guaranteed that he’ll leave several mistakes over the plate, so it’ll be a matter of the Cubs capitalizing on those to put up crooked numbers. With 117 hits allowed and just 71 strikeouts, this has the feel of a game that should see quite a bit more scoring than yesterday.
First pitch is at 1:20pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.
Day two vs. the O’s
Watch the game live on the Marquee Sports Network App. pic.twitter.com/tmD65XXeNO
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 2, 2025
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