Chicago Cubs Lineup (3/28/26): Mikolas Mashers Supportin’ Horton
The Cubs got the season off to a rough start on Thursday, falling apart in a 10-4 loss to a Nationals team that isn’t expected to finish within sniffing distance of the division lead. That silly built-in off day gave them a chance to regroup, and they’ve got a very familiar foe on the mound with weather that should be much more conducive to offense. While the same is true for the Nats, Cade Horton should be able to limit them.
Horton should have been on the bump for the opener, but that honor is more about seniority and emotion. So, just like having your best overall hitter in the two-hole, the hard-throwing righty will follow Matthew Boyd for now. And it’s not as though the rotation will remain the same all year long, especially with Justin Steele returning and the inevitable dings that come up along the way.
After a stinker of a start his second time out in Mesa, Horton was nails to close out his Cactus League slate. Across his last two starts, he allowed on runs on seven hits with 13 strikeouts and one walk. He got up to nearly 99 mph, harder than he threw at any point in his rookie season, and his breaking stuff was as nasty as ever. If there’s anyone you’d want on the mound as an equalizer, it’s him.
The hitters need to do their part as well, starting with Michael Busch at first, Alex Bregman at third, and Ian Happ in left. Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center and newly-minted $141 million man Nico Hoerner is at second. Dansby Swanson handles short, Moises Ballesteros is the DH, Matt Shaw is in right, and Miguel Amaya does the catching.
Helping the cause will be Miles Mikolas, the former Cardinals starter who has been hovering fairly well below mediocrity for a while now. Only Austin Gomber (15.1%) and Cal Quantrill (15.7%) have lower strikeout rates than Mikolas (16.0%) over the last three seasons, and only Gomber (5.9) has a lower K/9 mark than the Lizard King (6.1).
Known as an elite strike-thrower since coming back to MLB from a three-year stint in Japan, the righty has given up more and more homers as his stuff diminishes. His fastball sat at a career-low 92.9 mph last year, and only his changeup generated positive value. The sinker that used to get him out of trouble by creating grounders just stayed middle-middle far too often, causing him to decrease its usage significantly, and his slider completely lost its bite.
If you’re going to throw everything in the zone, your stuff had better be very sharp. That is no longer the case for Mikolas, who looks an awful lot like late-stage Kyle Hendricks at this point. Remember how The Profession stopped being able to pull off those old tricks that served him so well early in his career? Mikolas found success with the Cardinals through exceptional execution, but losing a couple of ticks and getting less movement on his breaking balls has taken him down a few pegs.
Never was that more clearly on display than in his two starts against the Cubs last season, the first of which came on July 4. Mikolas gave up 10 hits in that one, six of which left the yard. Busch and PCA were responsible for two of those apiece, and each of them had one more when they faced Mikolas on September 24. Hoerner also went yard in the latter affair, and Carson Kelly lit a bottle rocket in that Independence Day contest.
As a collective, this Cubs roster carries a .305/.316/.556 slash line with 11 homers against Mikolas. PCA accounts for a huge chunk of that, as he is slugging 2.556 with a 3.333 OPS and five homers in just nine at-bats. He’s also got a double, for what it’s worth. With the wind blowing out to left and center at around 9 mph with gusts up to 20, this could be an awfully fun afternoon.
First pitch is at 1:20pm CT on Marquee and The Score.
More baseball on deck, @ofcwrigleyfield.
Watch the game live on @WatchMarquee. pic.twitter.com/x99E37KFlU
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) March 28, 2026
