Chicago Cubs Lineup (2/20/25): Brujan Leads Off, Mo Baller DH, Poteet Pitching

Chicago Cubs baseball is on the air as Cactus League play officially gets underway on Thursday afternoon. The Cubs are in Camelback Ranch to take on the Dodgers in a preview of the season opener in Japan a month from now. Neither team is fielding anything resembling a regular lineup, but there are some names to watch.

Vidal Bruján survived the roster purge that saw Alexander Canario DFA’d instead to make room for Justin Turner, and he’ll lead the game off in center. Michael Busch bats second at first, Moises Ballesteros is the DH, and Kevin Alcántara is in right. Nicky Lopez handles short, Reese McGuire will try to handle himself behind the plate, Christian Franklin is in left, and Gage Workman takes the hot corner while James Triantos plays second.

On the mound for the Cubs is righty Cody Poteet, who came over from the Yankees in the trade for Cody Bellinger. The Cubs have done their best to balance out names as part of their needle-threading this winter, which is nice to see. And though this particular swap might not work out so much in their favor, replacing Kyle Hendricks with Kyle Tucker should fare better.

On the mound for the home team is Yoshinobu Yamamoto, which is a bit of a surprise at this early juncture. The big-money starter missed a good chunk of last season due to injury and will surely be pitching in Tokyo if healthy, so it does make sense to get him going early.

Oh, David Bote is batting sixth and playing first base for the Dodgers in this one as well. Watch him hit a homer and get Cubs fans in a tizzy.

First pitch is at 2:05pm CT on MLB Network. Marquee will only be broadcasting home games this spring and 670 The Score’s radio coverage begins with tomorrow’s game between these same two teams from Sloan Park.