Chicago Cubs Lineup (6/30/26): Boyd Bump Day, Hitters Look to Tower Over Sears

The Cubs moved into a tie with the Phillies for the top Wild Card spot on the strength of last night’s walk-off win, which was their 10th of the season. It was an odd game that featured no home runs despite the wind blowing out pretty hard to center with a pair of starters who have given up a lot of loud contact, but the Cubs managed to squeak it out. Their strong collective plate approach was key as they leaned into their MLB-leading 11.2% walk rate to keep pressure on the Padres’ pitchers.

Even though they didn’t take a free pass in the 9th, getting Jason Adam to throw 11 pitches to the first two batters forced San Diego skipper Craig Stammen to call for Mason Miller. Seven pitches later, the Cubs were celebrating a win. Being able to flip from patient to aggressive like that is a hallmark of a strong offense, and it’s what has keyed this recent hot stretch.

It helps when you limit your opponents to just two runs like the Cubs did last night. Even though the Padres have one of the worst offenses in baseball, you can’t make many mistakes in a low-scoring affair like that. Now it’s up to Matthew Boyd to keep the train rolling in his second start back from his second IL stint of the season. Boyd gave the Cubs 4.2 scoreless innings against the Mets, and probably would have gone deeper had his pitch count not been inflated by four walks.

Expect him to be sharper tonight, and also expect the bats to do better. With the wind again blowing hard out to center, it won’t take much to get out. Pete Crow-Armstrong has been an on-base machine lately as he embraces his leadoff role, so he’ll stay there for the foreseeable future. Alex Bregman had a key hit last night, so maybe it’s okay to keep him in the two-hole. Seiya Suzuki is the team’s hottest hitter, and he’ll remain as the DH. Carson Kelly cleans up, Michael Busch is at first, Nico Hoerner plays second, and Ian Happ is in left. Dansby Swanson moves to the eight spot with Kevin Alcántara getting a shot to play right.

They’re opposed by 30-year-old southpaw JP Sears, who came over from the A’s along with Miller at last season’s deadline. Originally drafted by the Mariners in the 11th round out of The Citadel in 2017, Sears was traded to the Yankees a few months later. He made his MLB debut in April of ’22 and was traded to the A’s at the deadline that season, after which he worked mainly as a starter.

Sears has pretty much been a “that guy” so far, posting an ERA in the mid-fours and filling a spot at the back end of the rotation. He spent the early part of the season at Triple-A and was recalled to start last week, so this is just his second MLB outing of the year. He’s a pretty typical lefty, using a 93 mph fastball with an 85 mph changeup and an 80 mph sweeper that plays well out of his low three-quarter arm slot.

He’ll go really heavy on the sweeper to left-handed hitters, throwing it nearly half the time, but righties will see it a lot too. The changeup is exclusively used against righties, and it’s a little odd that he throws it as often as he does when it hasn’t been very effective. That said, Sears has put up very neutral splits over the course of his career.

Even though he’s been around for a little while and has made 103 starts out of 109 total appearances, he has only faced two members of this Cubs roster in the past. Bregman is 7-for-20 with a pair of homers and two doubles, and Kelly is 2-for-2 with a double and a walk. I think this will be one of those where the Cubs ambush Sears right out of the gate and walk to an easy win. Either that or he puts up the best start of his career. No in-between tonight.

First pitch is at 7:05pm CT on Marquee and The Score.