Chicago Cubs Lineup (5/20/26): Happ Bats Third, Amaya DH, Cabrera Pitching

Remember back in the day, when Cubs baseball was fun? I’m talking all the way back on May 6, which feels way more than two weeks ago at this point. That was when they’d just completed their third straight walk-off win over the Reds and still had two more wins to go in their second 10-game streak of the season. They’ve gone 2-8 since, with four straight losses in the City of Chicago to drop out of first place in the division.

This team is about as unfun as possible right now, and it’s not just because they’re losing. No, the worst part is that they’re failing in exactly the way we all expect them to. They’re going to put lots of men on base and then strand them there time after time, providing an infinitely frustrating experience for fans. Not that the players are out there enjoying themselves or anything, as I’m sure they’re dying inside every time they strike out with a man on third and less than two outs.

But as Ian Happ put it during a Tuesday radio appearance, it’s “way too early” to start worrying about the standings. That’s not going to stop most of us, though, and knowing it’s a long season doesn’t make prolonged skids any easier to tolerate. Now we’re just hoping they can avoid being swept at home after a string of four straight sweeps over 15 Wrigley wins in a row.

If I made a list of the two Cubs pitchers I’d pick to win a game right now, Edward Cabrera would not be on it. Of course, the two who would be just lost the first two games of the series, not that Ben Brown can be blamed in any way. Cabrera got back to allowing three earned runs per game his last time out, doing so for the sixth time in seven starts, but he only struck out two with three walks.

Even though the results were far from great, his velocity was up and his breaking ball shapes looked better. It will be huge for the Cubs if he can find some measure of consistent performance, because they really need to get a win tonight.

Nico Hoerner has been slipping a bit lately, which is part of the overall problem, but he’s the best option to lead off. Alex Bregman moves up to the two-hole at third base, Ian Happ is in left, and Seiya Suzuki cleans up in right. Carson Kelly is the catcher, Michael Busch plays first, Dansby Swanson is at short, and Miguel Amaya is the DH. Pete Crow-Armstrong bats last in center.

Going for the Brewers is lefty Kyle Harrison, who came over from the Red Sox in February as part of the trade that sent Caleb Durbin and former Cubs prospect Andruw Monasterio to Boston. That’s just one of many deals Craig Breslow is regretting as his rocky tenure as head of baseball ops continues. Durbin is batting .169 with a 38 wRC+ and -0.1 fWAR and Monasterio is playing very rough defense en route to -0.3 fWAR.

Meanwhile, Harrison is 4-1 with a 2.09 ERA through eight starts. Initially drafted by the Giants with the 85th overall pick out of Concord, CA’s De La Salle High School in 2020, Harrison was part of the trade that brought Rafael Devers to San Francisco. Wait, that means Harrison has been a key piece of two trades Breslow would like back. Yikes on bikes.

Harrison moved quickly through the system, debuting in late 2023 at the age of 22. He made 24 starts the following year, then spent a good chunk of 2025 in the minors. His velo jumped from 92-93 in his first two seasons to almost 95 last year, and that’s where it is now. He throws his four-seam about 60% of the time, locating it up in the zone with much more arm-side movement than most. That makes it play more like a two-seam and keeps his hard stuff away from barrels.

The fastball sets up an 82mph slurve that has big depth from his three-quarter release, though his lack of variation hurts him a little against lefties. Harrison throws 56% four-seams and 41% slurves to left-handed hitters, so there’s not much guesswork involved. They can sit on the breaking ball more easily, hence the .364 OBP. Righties, on the other hand, have to contend with an 86 mph changeup that falls off the table with over 40 inches of vertical drop.

Even though the change is not particularly effective in and of itself, it keeps right-handed hitters from sitting on just two possibilities. Harrison has put up big strikeout numbers and he doesn’t walk many, plus he’s allowed only three home runs this season. I don’t like how this stacks up for the Cubs, but they’ve done little with the matchups I thought were heavily in their favor over the last week-plus.

First pitch is at 6:40pm CT on Marquee and The Score.

Your Wednesday night starters.

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— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 20, 2026