Chicago Cubs Lineup (4/7/25): Berti at 2B, Workman at 3B, Steele Starting
The Cubs snatched defeat from the jaws of victory for the second straight Sunday, blowing a 7-3 lead at home a week after giving up a snowman in the 8th inning of their finale in Arizona. And that’s with Craig Counsell putting out real lineups rather than Joe Maddon‘s maddening meatball matchups. Alas, they went out and swept the A’s following that earlier collapse. Now we’ll see if they can rebound against another AL West opponent.
Things didn’t go well for Justin Steele and the Cubs the last time he faced the Rangers, which was back on Opening Day last year in Arlington. The lefty was pitching really well before suffering a hamstring injury in the 5th inning and missing the next several weeks. His ERA is the only thing being bruised up so far, as he’s allowed 12 earned runs with five homers over 15.2 innings across his three starts.
As strange as it might sound, part of the issue might be that he’s getting too much movement on his slider. The breaking ball is moving an additional 2.5 inches vertically and 1.2 inches horizontally, and it has thus far cost him 3.3 runs of value. The changeup is far worse in terms of per-pitch value, but he doesn’t throw it enough to make much of a difference. Steele is near the bottom of the league in terms of overall run value, so there’s nowhere to go but up.
Even if he’s back on his game tonight, we’ve seen that the offense may need to provide plenty of insurance lest the ongoing walk-a-thon cost more runs. The lineup has been shaken up just a bit at the bottom with a tough pitcher on the mound opposing them, so we’ll see if Counsell has pulled the right strings. Ian Happ leads off in left, followed by reigning NL Player of the Week Kyle Tucker in right and Seiya Suzuki at DH.
Michael Busch is back at first, Dansby Swanson is the shortstop, Miguel Amaya slides into the six-hole as the catcher, and Pete Crow-Armstrong patrols center. Jon Berti gets the start at second and Gage Workman takes the hot corner.
They’re up against 35-year-old righty Nathan Eovaldi, who came out of the gate hot and boasts a 100th-percentile pitching run value mark (7) heading into this one. His 94 mph fastball is fine, but the splitter, curve, and cutter have been most successful so far. Eovaldi has gone 15 innings in two starts, the most recent of which was a complete game shutout of the Reds in which he struck out eight with no walks and only four hits allowed. Before that, he struck out nine Red Sox batters in six innings of two-run ball.
He’s gotten grounders at a 60.6% rate that is probably unsustainable, not to mention an insanely low .182 BABIP against. Maybe the Cubs can wrangle the regression monster and ride it as it tramples Eovaldi and the Rangers. But if he’s got that splitter working tonight, Craig Counsell’s squad could just end up saddle sore. People have been making a big deal out of the manager’s decisions in Sunday’s loss, but the fact of the matter is that the Cubs just need to make routine plays and stop walking so many batters.
The first home night game of the season gets going at 6:40pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.
Under the lights tonight!
Watch live on the Marquee Sports Network app. pic.twitter.com/lxf4Kff41q
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 7, 2025
