Chicago Cubs Lineup (8/9/25): Kelly Batting Cleanup, Shaw at 3B, Rea Starting

The Cubs have been mired in mediocrity for a while now, but last night’s game was just hot trash. They couldn’t manage to scratch out so much as a single run against a depleted Cardinals pitching staff, and it doesn’t appear as though they’re doing enough to spur more offense. Don’t get me wrong, I know it’s not like Craig Counsell and the hitters aren’t trying.

It’s just that they don’t seem to be willing or able to change tack when it comes to producing runs. Even as an avowed member of Team Buck Funting, I would not be opposed to the Cubs dinking and dunking with a little small ball. Hell, we saw Kyle Tucker lay down the first sac bunt of his career a few games ago in an attempt to shake off the slump that’s been dogging him for a while now.

Maybe it’s just a series of flukes, but it seems as though the Cubs are just letting the game happen to them rather than forcing the action and creating their own opportunities. Lucky for them, their strong play earlier in the season built up enough leeway to allow them to spin their wheels without losing too much ground.

That could change before long, though, so they really need a strong effort from Colin Rea tonight. Yes, the same guy who everyone expected to be displaced from the rotation by a deadline acquisition. I don’t think this is what Jed Hoyer meant when he said they’d have to have some players exceed expectations.

Not that even his best outing of the year will be enough if the bats stay cold. Michael Busch will lead things off at first, followed by Tucker in right and Seiya Suzuki at DH. Carson Kelly cleans up behind the dish, Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center, Ian Happ is in left, and Nico Hoerner plays second. Dansby Swanson bats eighth at short and Matt Shaw rounds out the order at third.

They’re up against Andre Pallante, whose delivery looks funky as hell. It obviously works for him, it’s just weird to see. As I noted the last time he pitched against the Cubs, what I like about the move is that he wasn’t forced to change it by some coach who decided it wouldn’t work because it didn’t look good from a traditional standpoint.

We need to let more kids move the way their bodies naturally want to, even if that means setting our egos aside to let it happen.

Pallante has already established new career highs for starts (22) and innings (122), but he’s not gotten there due to stellar pitching. His 15.4% strikeout rate is in MLB’s sixth percentile and he’s given up nearly a hit per inning to boot. The saving grace is a 61.2% grounder rate that is among the best in the game.

That comes from a 94-95 mph fastball that cuts and sinks to a high degree, to the point that his movement profile is almost wholly separate from the average MLB pitcher for that offering. Pallante’s two-seam plays more like a four-seam, and he even throws it harder. If it weren’t for the definition already being applied to someone who leads with breaking or offspeed pitches, I’d say this is what it means to pitch backwards.

The funky fastballs, mainly the four-seam he throws about twice as frequently to lefties, could help to explain his massive reverse splits. His huge reverse splits have narrowed a bit since his last start against the Cubs, but righties still hit him much better. That wasn’t the case in that game, with Busch homering and singling while Happ drew a bases-loaded walk to produce their only offense against the 26-year-old.

Everything about this game says the road team should come out on top, but that was the case last night as well. Until this team can achieve some semblance of consistency, every game is a crapshoot.

First pitch is at 6:15pm CT on FOX and 670 The Score.

The post Chicago Cubs Lineup (8/9/25): Kelly Batting Cleanup, Shaw at 3B, Rea Starting appeared first on .