Chicago Cubs Lineup (8/8/25): Happ Batting Cleanup, Castro 3B, Boyd Pitching
It’s hard to believe the lights first went on at Wrigley Field 37 years ago, though I suppose a lot of fans are still sensing those same dark clouds looming over the team. Maybe being in St. Louis will help. Wow, that’s probably the first time someone strung those particular words together. The Cardinals are fading in the division and just pieced out the back end of their bullpen, so it’s a good chance for the Cubs to gain a little momentum.
Doing so sure would help to align fans’ perception a little more closely with the perspective that the Cubs haven’t actually been playing bad baseball. Sure, they’re treading water since the break and have gone 5-5 over their last 10 games. But they’re playing at a 91-win pace over the same 60-plus-game stretch that has seen the Brewers go near 30 games over .500 to take the division lead.
As long as the Cubs can get back to winning two of three instead of having to salvage every other series with a late win, they should be fine. That starts Friday night with Matthew Boyd on the mound, which is where he was back on June 25. His six shutout innings helped the Cubs to even that series and kicked off an active stretch of five scoreless outings in seven starts.
Two of those have come against the Cardinals, giving Boyd a 0.00 ERA with six hits, nine strikeouts, and one walk over 11 innings. More of that again, please.
The Craigster is up to his wily ways with the lineup as he looks to jumpstart things offensively. Michael Busch bats and plays first, Seiya Suzuki is the DH, and Kyle Tucker is in right. Ian Happ cleans up in left, which is like giving Facebook commenters an atomic wedgie; those panties aren’t getting untwisted for at least a week. Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center, Carson Kelly is catching, and Willi Castro handles third base. Nico Hoerner is at second and Dansby Swanson rounds things out at short.
They’re up against baby-faced righty Michael McGreevy, who they tuned up pretty good the game before that first Boyd outing noted above. The 25-year-old has bounced between St. Louis and Memphis all season, and this is now his fifth stint with the big club just this season. He’s served as a starter in six of his MLB appearances so far, pitching to a 5.08 ERA with just 23 strikeouts over 39 innings.
The 18th overall pick out of UC Santa Barbara back in 2021, McGreevy has been steady in the minors despite being pretty unspectacular. He won’t strike out many batters, but he limits walks and homers to make opposing lineups work a little. His 93 mph four-seam has more sink and run than most and his 92 mph sinker gets a lot of depth. He’s also got a cutter at 88 mph that gets outs via contact. McGreevy’s sweeper is pretty decent as well, coming in at 84-84 mph.
He’ll go mainly sinker/sweeper to right-handed hitters and four-seam/cutter to lefties, with the curve and change sprinkled in here and there. Though he’s pitched to pretty big splits on the whole, the results have been reversed when he pitches at home. McGreevy is going to give up his share of hits — he’s surrendered more than one per inning since reaching Double-A in 2022 — so it’s a matter of making them count.
The Cubs collected seven knocks against him back in June, with a three-run homer from Suzuki standing out as the biggest blow. They also struck out just once to snap McGreevy’s stretch of three games with five punchies apiece to start his season. Everything about this matchup says the Cubs should be able to do what they want offensively, but the game won’t be played on paper.
First pitch is at 7:15pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.
