Chicago Cubs Lineup (9/14/25): Busch Leads Off, Mo Baller Bats Cleanup, Castro in RF

Okay, stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A rock star, a supermodel, and a retired ballplayer walk into the bleachers, and…now I forget the punchline. It was going to be that Eddie Vedder dropped an F-bomb and Anthony Rizzo called an Ian Happ walk-off homer, which would have made for a perfect ending to Cindy Crawford’s first Cubs game, but the baseball gods don’t always play fair. Instead, Brad Keller surrendered his first run in 23 games to the Ray’s No. 9 hitter and the Cubs lost by a run.

Maybe Vedder wasn’t talking about his singing partners when he said he was terrified they were going to f— up. He’s seen enough Cubs baseball to be skeptical of slim leads, after all. To make matters worse, both the Brewers and Padres won yesterday. And to add potential injury to insult, Owen Caissie was lifted from a rare start and was evaluated for concussion symptoms. Look, I get wanting to celebrate Rizzo’s career, but that was a bit much.

Kevin Alcántara reported to Wrigley this morning after being optioned for Caissie just a day earlier, so it’s likely the ginger Canadian is heading for the 7-day concussion IL.

I must say, however, that it was good to see Craig Counsell‘s willingness to start three rookies. The move paid off when Caissie made a nice catch before getting tangled up with Pete Crow-Armstrong and finding out just how hard that brick wall is. Moisés Ballesteros announced his presence with authority, hammering the first homer of his career right at Rizzo. Matt Shaw didn’t look so hot, and hasn’t for a while, but he’s still the everyday third baseman.

The Cubs now find themselves needing a win to capture the series and at least maintain their Wild Card lead. They’ve got a good chance with Shota Imanaga on the bump, though the lefty has given up three runs in each of his last three starts. While that wouldn’t normally be a problem, the Cubs aren’t exactly a lock to score four runs. They’ve done so six times in 11 games this month, though, and their only loss in those contests came yesterday.

Weird how scoring more means winning more. Michael Busch getting hot in the leadoff spot would help those efforts, as would Nico Hoerner continuing to challenge the .300 mark. Ian Happ is in left, Ballesteros is the DH, Dansby Swanson is at short, and Pete Crow-Armstrong finally slides back down in the order. Willi Castro is in right as Caissie is out and Seiya Suzuki deals with an illness, then it’s Reese McGuire behind the plate and Shaw at third.

They’re facing familiar foe Adrian Houser, who came to Tampa from the White Sox in a deadline trade that will probably end up benefiting the South Siders far more. Houser is having a career year after joining the Sox in mid-May when his time in the Rangers organization came to an end. His 3.11 ERA continues to outpace his expected stats and he’s limiting homers to a great degree.

Though he did serve up a tater to McGuire when the Cubs visited the Sox in late July, Houser came away with the win because he got loads of run support. Houser is a big sinker-baller who avoids barrels and gets loads of grounders, which makes up for his incredibly low whiff rate. He will bust right-handed hitters inside and run the 94 mph two-seamer away from lefties, then it’s basically an even mix of slider, change, curve, and four-seam.

He’ll throw all of them to any batter, but the change goes to lefties five times more often and the slider sees a lot more usage against righties. The curve and fastball are thrown more often to lefties as well, and their general mediocrity means Houser puts up pretty even splits. That said, he’s been much worse on the road this season. We’re talking a .337 wOBA vs. .267 at home, though he’s pitched in two different home parks.

The Cubs should have the advantage here, especially considering that Houser’s numbers with the Rays show that the other shoe may have dropped. He’s got a 4.93 ERA with five homers allowed in seven starts, so pretty much double what he had done with the Sox. Time to keep making that trade look like a mistake.

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