Chicago Cubs Lineup (8/21/25): Tucker in RF, Castro at 3B, Imanaga Starting

The Cubs enter this game winners of three straight, the first time they’ve done that since sandwiching the All-Star break with a pair of wins against both the Yankees and Red Sox. It’s the first time the Brewers have lost three in a row since early May, and these are the only games they’ve dropped in August so far. What say the Cubs run it to four straight?

That starts with Shōta Imanaga on the mound to face the Brewers for the third time this season. The first of those saw him exit early with a pulled hammy and the second was the Cubs’ lone win in Milwaukee near the end of July. Both of those were on the road, and Imanaga has been much better at home this season and for his career. His splits are much more even at Wrigley as well, which may help to mitigate the Brewers’ 108 wRC+ against lefties.

As always, the pitching won’t matter if the offense doesn’t show up. After getting blanked in the series opener, the Cubs have scored at least four runs in each of their wins. That’s the only time they’ve stacked that kind of offense all month, which isn’t saying much. Getting out early and continuing to pour it on was a hallmark of this club when things were rolling in June, so maybe it’s time to get back to that.

Michael Busch will lead off at first base, then it’s Kyle Tucker back in the two-hole and playing right field after getting a three-game rest. It was revealed Wednesday night that Tucker had actually suffered a small fracture in his hand in early June, though his strong play that month and the more recent onset of his offensive issues indicate something else may have been amiss. Here’s to hoping the time off allowed him the “step back” the Cubs were hoping for.

Pete Crow-Armstrong bats cleanup in center, Ian Happ is in left, Nico Hoerner is at second, and Willi Castro handles the hot corner. Dansby Swanson is at short and Reese McGuire rounds things out behind the dish.

A lot of folks are frustrated that Owen Caissie and Matt Shaw are absent from the lineup, especially since the latter played such a big role in last night’s win. I’m not as concerned about guys getting a day off as I am about what Shaw’s absence says about the Cubs’ falling standards. It used to be that a rookie had to hit a grand slam to earn a benching the next day; now we’re seeing it with solo shots. It’s sad, really, but the guys who are in the lineup just have to produce anyway.

They’re facing Quinn Priester, who is having a breakout season after bouncing from the Pirates to the Red Sox over the two previous seasons. Neither org seemed willing to put much faith in the former No. 18 overall pick in 2019, even though he’s still a few weeks shy of his 25th birthday. He couldn’t carve out a spot in Pittsburgh’s rotation, which seems pretty silly now, and he never developed the velocity on his sinker that the Red Sox needed to see.

After having a pretty rough go of it while bouncing between Triple-A and the bigs, Priester has settled in nicely with the Brewers. A big part of his leap forward this year was the decision to scrap his subpar fastball and go strictly with the sinker, which is now up to 44% usage. He averages around 94 mph with it and fills up the zone with good action that generates loads of grounders.

Always a groundball pitcher, Priester’s 58% rate this season puts him in the 96th percentile and allows him to get away with a lot of hard contact and a lack of strikeouts. His 86 mph slider helps a well, and he likes to get righties to chase low and away while back-footing lefties. Despite a decent whiff rate, it’s not much of a put-away pitch.

Priester’s firm cutter comes in at around 92 mph and works up in the zone to a greater degree than most of its kind. He’ll throw that and the curve more frequently to left-handed hitters, though neither has been particularly effective. They certainly weren’t good when Priester gave up seven runs to the Cubs back on May 2, though he looked much better on July 29.

Then again, he somehow managed to give up just two runs on eight hits and two walks in that most recent game. It was one of those where the Cubs failed to do much with what should have been a crippling number of baserunners. Priester hasn’t been exceedingly lucky or anything, but he is able to escape because of all the grounders. If the Cubs can get the ball in the air against him, there’s no reason they can’t keep their streak going.

First pitch is at 1:20pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.

Five of Five.

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— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 21, 2025