Chicago Cubs Lineup

Chicago Cubs Lineup (9/1/24): Swanson Bats Second, Wisdom at 1B, Wicks Makes Return

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanSeptember 1, 2024

The Cubs have won five straight and eight of nine as they look to sweep a second consecutive series and maintain their improbable playoff push. The postseason odds took a big jump last night as the Braves lost for the second time in three games. A four-game gap with 26 to play doesn’t seem quite as daunting.

There’s always a little more excitement in the air when the calendar flips to September and you can sense the season coming to a close. Add in the new(ish) faces from roster expansion and it feels sort of like a bizarro spring training. Of course, pushing out to just 28 players means the dugouts aren’t overflowing with randos like we used to see back in the day. And if we’re being honest, Miles Mastrobuoni isn’t the sexiest name when it comes to additions from Triple-A.

Jordan Wicks, however, that’s nice to see. The lefty hasn’t made a big league start since exiting early on June 14 with an oblique strain, but now he’s back to lengthen the rotation down the home stretch. He only completed five innings once in six starts and shouldn’t be counted on to go deep this afternoon, but the bullpen is fairly well-rested and can shoulder more of a load if needed.

Craig Counsell had his lineup out before his opponents for the first time all season, or at least that’s how it seems, which is interesting given the tweaks he made. Ian Happ is in his familiar spot at leadoff and playing left, but Dansby Swanson slides up to the two-hole thanks to his better hitting of late and the fact that the Nats have another lefty on the bump. Seiya Suzuki is the DH, Cody Bellinger is in right, Isaac Paredes is at third, and Patrick Wisdom handles first in place of Michael Busch. Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center and Miguel Amaya is behind the plate.

Going for Washington is 24-year-old rookie southpaw Mitchell Parker, who is on for the 25th time in what has been a pretty decent, if unspectacular, debut campaign. He’s seen a huge dip in strikeouts after missing tons of bats in the minors, but he’s also walking fewer batters. While you’d expect the Ks to drop a little, he had 406 punches in 329.2 innings (11.08 K/9) over parts of four seasons in the minors and is now at just 7.74 K/9 with a 20th-percentile whiff rate.

Makes you wonder what’s up with the baseballs they’re using in some of those leagues, right? That’s part of the reason the Cubs have been somewhat aggressive in promoting top prospects out of Double-A.

A big part of the issue for Parker is fastball location, as he tends to leave his four-seam right in the middle of the zone. Though FanGraphs says he’s generated 1.9 runs with the pitch, Baseball Savant has it at -9 and in the 9th percentile among his peers. His curveball has gotten great results due to its depth and the fact that he can land it for strikes, but it can’t make up for the hittable heater. If Parker can figure out how to get a little more carry on the fastball, he could really have something working.

His splitter and slider have both been okay and they may be tremendous pitches with better consistency, it’s just that they often catch too much of the zone and are duly punished. Parker has been very up-and-down this season and is just as capable of imploding as he is shutting the Cubs down. He’s not a big platoon split guy either, so the Busch move doesn’t seem to track at first blush.

After taking another look at it, however, Counsell is probably looking to lean into the longball while also giving Wisdom a little run. Of the 17 homers Parker has allowed this season, 16 have been hit by right-handed batters. and with him frequently missing middle with the fastball, Wisdom is a great candidate to run into one. Oh, 10 of those dingers have come at home too.

It’s hard not to get swept up in the Cubs’ hot play of late, but I still have this nagging feeling that this is one of those games where a relatively unknown pitcher steps up and dominates them. Nah, let’s tamp that pessimism down and go with the opposite. How about six in a row and another step toward shocking everyone?

First pitch is at 12:35pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanSeptember 1, 2024
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