Chicago Cubs Lineup (9/6/25): Busch Leads Off, Castro in RF, Boyd Bump Day

Before we get to the game at hand, I’d like to offer my condolences to the family and friends of Davey Johnson, who passed away yesterday at the age of 82. Perhaps best known for guiding the Mets to the 1986 World Series title in 1986, Johnson managed four other teams and found great success with most of them. He led the Red to the 1995 NL Central title and an NLDS win over the Dodgers, the Reds’ most recent postseason series win, and took the Orioles to the postseason in each of the next two years.

Johnson later managed the Nationals to an NL East win in 2012, the year in which Stephen Strasburg was infamously shut down prior to the playoffs after reaching his innings limit. His fiery temperament and ability to quickly lead teams to the postseason before wearing out his welcome in short order made Johnson a combination of Lou Piniella and Dusty Baker in my mind, though that could just be my Cubs bias.

Rest in peace, Mr. Johnson, and may the folks at Cooperstown eventually recognize your exceptional body of work.

The Cubs opened this series with a bang yesterday, jumping on the Nats immediately and eventually blasting four homers to win going away. The last of those dingers came from Ian Happ, who now has five 20-homer seasons in Chicago and is up to a 115 wRC+ on the year. That’s a far cry from bad. Happ staying hot will help to bridge a possible IL stint for Kyle Tucker, though the

Having Happ and others hitting up to their capabilities — Pete Crow-Armstrong is the only regular whose actual wOBA is higher than his xwOBA, and it’s only by a thousandth of a point — will also help the rotation. We already know how Cade Horton‘s outings are being limited, and it’s possible the Cubs will need to do the same with Matthew Boyd. The lefty is on the bump today for the 28th time and he’ll eclipse 160 innings if he escapes the 1st, and that workload is starting to show.

Boyd has allowed 13 earned runs over his last three starts, more than he’d given up in any previous four-game stretch this season. We have to get to a five-game run from April 30 to May 23 just to tie those 13 runs. While Boyd hasn’t been bad, per se, he doesn’t appear to be quite as sharp in his recent outings. Giving him a little more leeway by beefing up his run support should help on that front.

Michael Busch leads off at first, followed by Happ in left and Seiya Suzuki at DH. Crow-Armstrong is in center, Nico Hoerner is at second, Carson Kelly is catching, and Willi Castro handles right field. The Cubs have not announced anything as of this publication, but Tucker was working on the field prior to the game and appeared to be moving well. Dansby Swanson is at short and Matt Shaw handles third.

Since I already referenced a pair of former Cubs skippers, one of whom also managed the Nats, I suppose we should discuss the continued ties between these two teams. In addition to Baker, Washington has also employed Jim Riggleman and Dave Martinez as managers. After firing the latter, the Nats named former Cub Miguel Cairo as interim manager. Cairo spent the 1997 season on the North Side, often coming in for Ryne Sandberg when the legend was removed late in games during his farewell campaign.

Working with Cairo are former Cubs pitching coach Jim Hickey, former Cubs legend Henry Blanco (aka Hank White), and iconic former Cub Ricky Gutierrez. Cairo probably isn’t long for the role given how poorly the team has played — not that it’s his fault, that’s just the way the business works — but maybe he can find a way to motivate them with a pregame speech.

Something like this could work:

“The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and goodwill, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my starter is Brad Lord when he lays his vengeance upon thee!”

The 25-year-old righty has floated between the rotation and bullpen, making 14 previous starts out of 43 appearances, but this will now be his ninth start in a row. He’s been much better as a reliever, where his 2.79 ERA is nearly two and a half points better than it’s been as a starter. Much of that is due to his sinking fastball to play up closer to 97 mph than 94, making it far more effective. And I don’t mean his sinker, I’m talking the four-seam.

Lord’s primary heater looks like most pitchers’ sinkers, and he throws it just over half the time. The sinker he goes to about 17% of the time, more frequently to right-handed hitters, is even heavier in terms of its vertical drop. That helps him avoid barrels and drives a groundball rate that is just under 50%, good for the 84th percentile in MLB.

Unfortunately for Lord, however, his command of the zone is still quite poor. Despite all that run on the four-seam, he ends up leaving it right in the heart of the zone more often than not. His slider has a good deal less horizontal movement than most, and it frequently backs up on him to land up and to the arm side. His sinker likewise lands middle-middle, and his changeup does the same despite a lack of consistency.

Lord has allowed 17 earned runs over his last three games, and he has given up roughly one hit per inning on the season. As a starter, he’s surrendered 71 hits in 65 innings. After facing Jake Irvin, who has given up the second-most homers in MLB, the Cubs may need to find a different way to win this one. They should be able to get their fair share of knocks, but they aren’t as likely to leave the yard. Then again, Lord has served up four taters in those recent starts and the wind is once again blowing out to right.

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

Game two with the Nats.

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— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 6, 2025