Chicago Cubs Lineup (6/24/25): Happ DH, McGuire Catching, Taillon Tossing
The Cubs got blown out in the series opener thanks to a quartet of two-run homers by the home team. Ben Brown was responsible for all of them and earned a trip to Des Moines as a result. The Cubs will continue looking for rotation help, but activating Shōta Imanaga from the IL will give them boost in the meantime. Now they just need to focus on winning games.
Jameson Taillon has done that for the most part lately, racking up five wins in a row while allowing just seven runs over 33 innings. His last effort wasn’t nearly as sharp, leading to five earned runs in four innings and his first loss in over a month. He has not done well against these Cardinals, allowing a .312/.338/.484 slash with five homers in 128 at-bats.
That will need to change in a big way, or the offense will have to put up crooked numbers to keep him out of trouble. Ian Happ gets a break from the outfield as the DH, Kyle Tucker is in right, and Seiya Suzuki is in left. Pete Crow-Armstrong cleans up in center, Dansby Swanson bats fifth at short, and Michael Busch is at first. Nico Hoerner plays second, Matt Shaw is at third, and Reese McGuire is the catcher.
On the bump for St. Louis is fresh-faced 24-year-old righty Michael McGreevy. The 18th overall pick by the Cards out of UC Santa Barbara — which is just a beautiful part of the country — back in 2021, McGreevey climbed steadily through the minors to debut last season with four appearances. He’s spent most of this season at Triple-A, and this is only his fourth up-and-down appearance of 2025.
Far from a power pitcher, the young righty operates in the low 90s with his fastball (25.3%) and sinker (23.3%) while offering a variety of other pitches in the 80s. His mix includes a sweeper (16.7%), cutter (14.4%), slider (10.1%), changeup (5.4%), and curve (4.7%), almost all of which are used based on batter handedness. Only the slider gets equal usage to both sides.
The four-seam, cutter, change, and curve will be thrown to left-handed hitters; the sinker, sweeper are thrown mainly to right-handed hitters. McGreevy might want to reconsider that usage, as his splits are pretty stark. Though he’s dominated righties so far, lefties have gotten the best of him in the early going. It’s entirely possible that will even out here shortly, but it could be a good opportunity for Happ, Tucker, PCA, and Busch to make a little noise.
McGreevy is a strike-thrower who gets by mainly on soft contact, but he’s a fly-ball pitcher who could get burned as the summer wears on. This one might come down to playing station-to-station baseball and being aggressive on the bases, something the Cubs can do when they choose to. Given the way the offense has struggled when home runs are at a premium, Craig Counsell might want to pull some levers to manufacture a run or three.
First pitch is at 6:45pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.
Game two in St. Louis.
Watch it live on the Marquee Sports Network App. pic.twitter.com/4xLkyCNLrb
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 24, 2025
