Chicago Cubs Lineup (6/19/25): Happ Leads Off, Kelly Catching, Taillon Starting
Yesterday’s game was rained out, thus preventing us from getting a look at dynamic rookie pitcher Jacob Misiorowski. It’s a little odd to me that the Brewers pushed him back to Friday against the Twins, but that just tells me they’re scared of the Cubs. That, and Freddy Peralta has pretty much dominated this group. More on that in a bit.
Jameson Taillon has been incredible over his last five starts, allowing only seven earned runs in 33 innings and pitching up wins each time out. He’s had pretty much everything working well, but his new kick-change is particularly effective. His balanced repertoire allows him to attack hitters in a tailored fashion and gives him the ability to shift his strategy the second and third times through the order.
As good as he’s been, the offense needs to get going and keep this from being yet another close game. Ian Happ again leads off in left, Kyle Tucker is in right, Seiya Suzuki is the DH, and Pete Crow-Armstrong leads off in center. Dansby Swanson is the shortstop, Michael Busch is at first, Carson Kelly does the catching, Nico Hoerner is at second, and Matt Shaw plays third.
Peralta shut the Cubs down back in early May, holding them scoreless over six innings on four hits with seven strikeouts and a walk. It was his second-best start of the season and was in keeping with his historical numbers against this group. Current Cubs carry a .171/.262/.326 slash over 129 at-bats, and Happ is batting .069 with 13 strikeouts in 29 ABs.
Swanson is 1-for-17 with eight punchies, while Suzuki is 2-for-17 with 10 strikeouts. Something is going to have to change if they want to get over on Peralta this afternoon.
His cutty 95 mph fastball makes up nearly 60% of his repertoire and sees equal usage against batters on both sides of the plate. Then comes the changeup, which is his best pitch despite only making up 20% of his repertoire. He’s comfortable throwing it right-on-right, which is part of the reason for his neutral platoon splits. Righties slug a little better, but the wOBA difference is pretty nominal and is keeping with his career marks.
The curve and slider are decent pitches, but neither stands out as being particularly effective. It’s interesting that Peralta generates relatively little contact on the ground despite locating everything but the fastball way down in the zone. He’s susceptible to the longball when he makes mistakes, so the Cubs might need to capitalize on a few of those with the wind blowing lightly out to left and possibly shifting toward center this afternoon.
First pitch is at 1:20pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.
Our afternoon plans at @ofcwrigleyfield.
Watch the game live on the Marquee Sports Network app. pic.twitter.com/WDBJbsQ4VM
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 19, 2025
