Chicago Cubs Lineup

Chicago Cubs Lineup (4/14/26): Busch Back at 1B, Suzuki in RF, Martin Opening

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanApril 14, 2026

The Cubs got mollywopped last night in Philly, leading to both Javier Assad and Charlie Barnes being forced to wear it rather than being pulled when it was clear they didn’t have it. Barnes is now headed back to Iowa and Ethan Roberts has been placed on the IL with a right middle finger laceration to make room for lefty relievers Luke Little and Ryan Rolison as the staff seeks fresh arms to bail water from a leaky hull.

In addition to adding reinforcements, Craig Counsell is shifting around his rotation in an effort to counter the Phillies’ lefty-heavy lineup. Two of their first three batters and six overall hit from the left side, so the Cubs are going with Riley Martin to open this one. Though he worked as a starter in his lone appearance at Triple-A, Martin only went three innings. Between that and having just thrown on Sunday, it’s unlikely he’ll be asked to record more than six outs tonight.

We looked at Martin’s unlikely path to the majors when news broke that he was being called up, but there’s another very important aspect of his journey that not many knew about. Elise Menaker discussed that during his most recent appearance and it’s worth watching if you haven’t seen it already, or maybe even if you have.

The ironic thing about the decision to start Martin is that both hits he has allowed at the MLB level came from left-handed hitters. He also gave up a homer to a lefty at Iowa, and he’s pitched to varying degrees of reverse splits in each of the past three seasons. That said, originally scheduled starter Colin Rea pitched to massive traditional splits last season. Letting him skip at least Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper the first time through could improve his chances.

Of course, it’ll also help if the offense can put up some numbers early against Aaron Nola. That hasn’t been the case yet, as the current roster is slashing .199/.255/.344 with five homers and 52 strikeouts in 186 at-bats against him. Three came from Dansby Swanson and two came from Michael Conforto, who isn’t in the lineup, so we’re talking about a decided lack of power from the rest of the squad.

Nico Hoerner leads off as second, then it’s Michael Busch getting back in the starting lineup at first base after a little time off. Alex Bregman is at third, Ian Happ is in left, and Seiya Suzuki is in right. Moisés Ballesteros is the DH, Carson Kelly is the catcher, Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center, and Swanson is at short.

Nola has been with the Phillies organization since being drafted seventh overall out of LSU in 2014, and he’s spent the last 12 years in the bigs. His performance has been pretty consistent for the most part, save for his 6.01 ERA last year. Even then, most of his peripherals were in line with previous seasons. Nola is a throwback whose fastball has been right around 92-93 mph his whole career, but he has impeccable command that allows him to land his pitches for whiffs and weak contact.

He also gets elite extension from his 6-foot-2, 200-pound frame, which makes his stuff play up a little more. His best weapon by a very wide margin is the knuckle curve he throws about 30% of the time, using it against hitters from both sides to get ugly swings. Though most of its value was built in 2017-19, it remains a very effective pitch.

Having a variety of offerings — four-seam, curve, sinker, change, cutter — has allowed Nola to pitch to almost identical splits over the course of his career, though he’s trending far more traditional as he ages. He’s also had significantly better results at home, to the tune of 30-32 points each in average, OBP, and slugging. This isn’t a good matchup for the Cubs on paper, but Nola isn’t the same pitcher as he approaches his 33rd birthday in June.

We’ll find out what happens at 6:40pm CT on Marquee and The Score.

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanApril 14, 2026
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