Chicago Cubs Lineup

Chicago Cubs Lineup (8/25/24): PCA Bats 7th, Wisdom at 3B, Assad Going for Sweep

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanAugust 25, 2024

The Cubs have won both games in Miami so far and their bats have come alive in each, so now they have a chance to bury the Marlins and put themselves above .500 for the first time since June 5 (31-31). Since falling nine games under on July 3 (39-48), they’re winning at a .605 clip (26-17) which would put them at 84 or 85 wins if they’re able to maintain it. That probably isn’t good enough to surpass any of the sitting Wild Card teams, but it would make for interesting late-season baseball.

Though it’s of little real value in the end, finishing ahead of the Cardinals would provide minor consolation. They can take a step toward that with a win today behind Javier Assad, who is coming off of his best start in three months and just his second win in 14 tries. The righty struggled before and after a forearm issue that landed him on the IL, but his confidence may be back to where it was at the start of the season.

There aren’t many better lineups to keep the mojo going, and all Assad has to do is keep the Fish at bay for a few innings with the way the Cubs’ bats have been performing. Ian Happ leads off again in left with Michael Busch at first and Seiya Suzuki back in the DH spot. Cody Bellinger plays right, Nico Hoerner is at second base, and Dansby Swanson is at short.

Pete Crow-Armstrong has homered in consecutive games and slides up one spot in the order as the center fielder. His hitting raised questions about his fitness as an everyday player, but PCA has firmly established his credentials as a potential difference-making threat in center and at the plate. Patrick Wisdom gets a rare start at third and Christian Bethancourt, who has been quite solid as the backup, spells the hot-hitting Miguel Amaya behind the plate.

They’re up against 29-year-old Adam Oller, who is making just his second start of the season and 17th overall across parts of three campaigns with the A’s and Marlins. Originally drafted by the Pirates in the 20th round back in 2016, Oller was released in 2018 and played indy ball before catching on with the Giants. He was plucked away by the Mets in the 2019 Rule 5 Draft and was eventually traded to the A’s as part of the exchange for Chris Bassitt.

It was with Oakland that Oller accumulated the bulk of his big league experience, working 74.1 innings across 19 appearances (14 starts) in 2022. He made one start out of nine games last year and racked up 19.2 innings, then made one start this year with Miami that lasted just shy of five innings. He is not a guy who misses bats and he’s also walked way too many batters, plus he’s a a pretty extreme fly ball pitcher who’s been very prone to giving up homers.

While not much information is available, I still feel pretty safe saying this is a matchup the Cubs should be salivating over. Oller’s 94 mph four-seam works up in the zone with a little cut, but he tends to spray it around too much for it to be effective. His go-to breaking ball is a slurve that likewise seems to have little use for consistent location. At 83 mph, it often ends up being spit on or hammered.

Oller’s cutter stays up in the zone too much and his changeup hasn’t shown much value in limited usage, so the splits against him have been equally impressive from both sides. And I’m talking about what hitters have been able to do so far. Lefty batters have a slight advantage, with a .963 OPS and .410 wOBA as compared to .911 and .388 from righties.

With seven total homers in the first two games of this series, I feel safe saying the Cubs are due for a few more big flies in this one. Now watch Oller shove his way to a shutout or something. But seriously, this has all the earmarks of a very fun game to watch. First pitch is at 12:40pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanAugust 25, 2024
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