Chicago Cubs Lineup (7/28/25): Busch Leads Off, Shaw at 3B, Boyd Starting
The Cubs and Brewers enter this series tied atop the NL Central after the Cubs picked up a game when the Brewers finally lost two in a row. Milwaukee dropped a series at home to the Marlins and almost got swept, though that 15-6 record in July has them sitting pretty. These next three games have a lot riding on them, and it should be a charged atmosphere at AmFam Field.
Matthew Boyd carries a 23-inning scoreless streak into this one and has only allowed two runs over his last five starts. He’s racked up 29 strikeouts to just three walks in that span as he shows no signs of slowing down despite throwing 40 more innings than in any season since 2019. The Cubs were hoping to get 120 innings out of Boyd this year, a mark he’ll reach in his second inning of work tonight.
Signing the oft-injured lefty was a risk that has paid off in a very big way, and getting another strong performance in this one will add to what has already been a stellar season. The Brewers are sending out a pretty decent pitcher of their own, though, so the bats need to step up.
I totally whiffed on getting this out ahead of the game, sorry. Lineup image at the end.
On the bump for the Brew Crew is rookie Jacob Misiorowski, who was in line to face the Cubs for his second career start before being pushed back due to an ankle injury suffered late in his debut. The baseball world got a look at him in the All-Star Game when he was named the replacement for Boyd, who was inactive to limit his workload. While it was unconventional and controversial, Misiorowski wowed even his elite teammates and competitors with a triple-digit fastball.
The 23-year-old has thrown his slider in the upper 90s and averages over 99 mph on a fastball he throws with 99th-percentile extension. At 6-foot-7, the gangly righty is all arms and legs as he fires his electric repertoire from a low-three-quarter arm slot, almost like a flipped version of Chris Sale. That’s a highly imperfect comp because Sale’s a true sidearmer with a much slower slider, but the point is that Misiorowski provides hitters with an uncomfortable look.
He has dominated righties to the tune of a .125/.160/.167 slash line so far, though he strikes lefties out at a much higher rate. His walk rate is also four times higher when facing left-handed hitters, who account for all four homers he’s allowed. One little wrinkle I find quite interesting, even if it’s just a trick of the small sample, is that Misiorowki’s xFIP splits are identical at 2.81 despite his FIP being 5.13 against lefties and 1.59 against righties.
A tendency to give up hard contact in the air is his weakness in the early going, so the Cubs may need to exploit that to beat him. Then again, they might just need to wait him out. Misiorowski has pitched only 29.1 innings in six starts and has faced more than 20 batters just once. Unless the Brewers are going to take off the kid gloves, which isn’t likely just yet, we’re probably looking at less than six innings for him tonight.
First pitch is at 6:40pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.
