Chicago Cubs Lineup (4/14/25): Turner DH, Amaya Catching, Taillon Against Cease
We caught a break with Sunday Night Baseball, but the Cubs are back to these godforsaken West Coast start times as they open their second series of the season against the Padres. At least their getaway game is an afternoon affair, but we’ve got to suffer through a pair of late ones first. And hey, continuing to meatloaf their competition would make the hassle worthwhile.
Jameson Taillon missed the Pads at Wrigley last week, but he’s got quite a bit of experience against their roster and should have an idea of how to attack them. He’ll have to step up, though, as indicated by the .306/.336/.441 slash line against him in 111 at-bats. There are only two homers and nine doubles out of 34 total hits, but Taillon has struck out just 12 with five walks in that same sample.
These guys haven’t necessarily hit him hard, but they’ve clearly been able to make plenty of contact. Taillon has already surrendered 18 hits over 16.1 innings in his three previous starts, and four of those have left the yard. He’s gotten plenty of chases and whiffs, it’s just that his mistakes are being hammered. Despite that, most of his underlying metrics are pretty decent.
The difference between Taillon getting roughed up and having a great start will be his command of the sweeper and cutter. He’s been pretty erratic with both, particularly the sweeper, leading to a significant decrease in usage for both. That means the fastball is up to 47% after being at just 29% last season, leading to concerns about his future performance. He really needs to get those breaking balls fine-tuned in order to balance out his repertoire and fill some of the void left by Justin Steele‘s injury.
It may not take much to keep this offense in the game, especially now that they seem to be adding more power to the patience. Ian Happ has a very tough matchup in this one and has gotten off to a lukewarm start, but he remains in the leadoff spot playing left field. Kyle Tucker is in right and Justin Turner batting third, a spot that is apparently reserved for the DH regardless of who that batter happens to be and how poorly he matches up with the opposing pitcher.
Michael Busch is at first, Dansby Swanson is the shortstop, and Nico Hoerner is at second. Pete Crow-Armstrong is coming off the best offensive performance of his career, notching two homers and a triple the day after news of his extension offer came out. He isn’t worried about working out a new deal just yet, especially not one that looks like a gross underpayment. Miguel Amaya is behind the plate and Matt Shaw rounds things out at third.
They’re squaring off with former Cubs farmhand Dylan Cease, who isn’t off to the kind of start he’d like with free agency awaiting him this winter. Perhaps getting rid of his hobo beard will help, but it’ll take more than just a lack of facial hair to set things right. Cease has taken a different tack from Taillon, cutting back on the four-seam and leading with the slider. Being in the 95th percentile for breaking ball run value would be good if his fastball wasn’t in the third percentile.
While his velocity is still sitting 96-97 with similar ride to past seasons, he’s getting quite a bit less run. That has led to a lot of hard contact in the air as he fails to get nearly as many swings and misses on a relative basis. Things could change in a hurry, of course, but it looks like he might be pressing for whatever reason. It’s possible he could be overthinking it on the mound with all the trade rumors and free agency dreams in his head.
As nice as it would be for that to continue tonight, Cease’s past performance against the Cubs tells us this could be a get-right game. Over 53 total at-bats by members of their roster, Cease has limited them to a .151/.274/.245 slash with one homer and 22 strikeouts with nine walks. Happ is the most experienced opponent of the group, and he’s 1-for-18 with nine of those strikeouts. Tucker, however, is 5-for-11 with a pair of doubles and feels primed for a big game.
First pitch from Petco is at 8:40pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.
Starting things off in San Diego.
Watch it live on the Marquee Sports Network App. pic.twitter.com/hvzAg0nBNc
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 14, 2025
