Chicago Cubs Lineup (2/22/26): Shaw at 2B, Bregman 3B, Rae Vs Ray on Sunday

The Cubs have lost both Cactus League games so far, and they’ve lost fly balls in the sun each time. At this rate, they may end up setting a new record for futility. How’s that for an early overreaction?

They’ll get rolling at some point, maybe even this afternoon. I don’t care a lick about their record, but it would be nice to see some more offense. To that end, it’s been nice to see aggressive baserunning in the early going. That’s by design, as third base coach Quintin Berry explained during Friday’s game.

Those overarching strategic choices are what I’m paying attention to right now, and I like what I’ve seen so far.

Matt Shaw leads off for the second game in a row, this time at second base, and Alex Bregman follows at third. Seiya Suzuki is in center, Miguel Amaya is the catcher, Chas McCormick is in right, and Dylan Carlson is in left. Justin Dean is the DH, Scott Kingery is the shortstop, and Owen Miller — who I legit didn’t realize was in camp — is at first.

The pitching matchup is one a certain Atlanta Falcons’ return specialist will enjoy, as it’s Colin Rea against Robbie Ray. I’ll forego any real breakdown for now since we’ll only see them go two innings apiece, likely without full repertoires. This is one of those days where I’d really like to be out in AZ.

Theres snow on the ground again here, and I spent yesterday evening watching a pair of young prospects getting in their final tuneups prior to heading out to their respective camps. There’s snow were a bunch of high-level prep players in the house too, so the vibes were tremendous. I think I might just follow the Cubs online and find a movie to watch this afternoon.

First pitch is at 2:05pm CT from Scottsdale Stadium. Though there won’t be any coverage from the Cubs’ stations, you can catch the Giants’ broadcast as MLB.TV’s Free Game of the Day.