Chicago Cubs Lineup (8/1/24): Happ Leads Off, Paredes Makes Cubs Home Debut, Imanaga Starting

The Cubs open the month of August with a new look, and I don’t mean Isaac Paredes. This will be their first game sporting Motorola’s “batwing” logo on the sleeves of their jerseys after reaching a multiyear agreement with the Chicago-based company. Even though a few folks are up in arms about it, all will be forgiven if the Cubs play well moving forward.

That starts tonight with Mike Imanaga II toeing the rubber against the Cardinals for the second time. He dominated them over seven innings back in mid-June and the Cubs have won both of his second-half starts, so there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic tonight.

Ian Happ leads off in left, followed by Michael Busch at first, Seiya Suzuki in right, and Cody Bellinger at DH. Isaac Paredes makes his Wrigley Field home debut at third, Nico Hoerner is at second, Dansby Swanson is at short, and Pete Crow-Armstrong patrols center with Miguel Amaya behind the plate.

Any optimism may be tempered a bit by seeing Redbirds ace Sonny Gray on the hill, though the Cubs tagged him with a loss after scoring three runs against him on July 12. He was very stingy in their previous meeting, however, and should put up a good fight. You probably don’t need to know much about Gray’s repertoire or pedigree at this point, so I’ll dispense with all that.

First pitch is at 7:10pm CT on MLB Network (out-of-market only), Marquee, and 670 The Score.

Sho Time: 7:05 CT.

Tune in: https://t.co/Gs2hZXyTjH pic.twitter.com/AiDamDBI5O

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 1, 2024