Chicago Cubs Lineup (7/30/26): Assad Closing Series in Return to Rotation
The Cubs should be up 3-0 in this series, but a patchwork bullpen and failure to score any runs prior to Pete Crow-Armstrong’s 10th-inning homer did them in. Even though Trent Thornton is tied with Daniel Palencia for second on the team with three saves, no one is looking at him as a closer. That’s the role he was asked to fill, though, which is what happens when you have a whole pitching staff on the IL.
That was a more fitting loss than being blown out, as the Cubs had surged into the lead with what would have been the hallmark of Crow-Armstrong’s MVP-ness (phrasing). The bat flip and the pose after giving his team a 2-0 lead should have been the headline, even though not everyone really digs such antics. Some are even trying to put this on PCA as some sort of baseball karma fallout, but that’s silly at best.
This is just a flawed team that got exposed yet again in a game they should have won. A lot of those flaws will be addressed in the coming days by trades and IL activations, but there are still games to play in the meantime. That means Javier Assad is going to have to step up to get out of The Lou with a series win.
Assad has never been an expected-stats darling, yet he continues to post better results than all the underlying metrics say he should. I’ve been sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop since he debuted, and he keeps making me look silly. The Cubs need a lot more of the same this afternoon, even if it just means getting length from their starter.
Shōta Imanaga was pushed back to give him extra rest and to make the Yankees face a lefty in the series opener tomorrow. The rotation could look very different after this weekend, so this could be Assad’s last start for a while.
The lineup shouldn’t change much, if at all, for the rest of the way. PCA is in center, Seiya Suzuki is the DH, and Michael Busch is at first. Alex Bregman cleans up at third, Ian Happ is in left, Nico Hoerner plays second, and Michael Conforto patrols right. Carson Kelly does the catching and Dansby Swanson is at short.
They’re seeing Andre Pallante for the third time after decidedly different results in the first two. The awkward-looking thrower has one of the most aesthetically displeasing deliveries I’ve ever seen — examples below — but it works for him. That was the case on July 3, when he blanked the Cubs over nearly six innings. They’ve hit him well in the past and should not have trouble today.
Pallante throws his 95 mph four-seam only 31% of the time, but only 10% against right-handed hitters. It works well because it has a ton of cut and sink, while his actual sinker gets more ride than most. Righties see mainly slider/sinker, with a healthy dose of curveballs mixed in as well. Lefties get over 50% heaters with the curve and slider accounting for about 41% of the mix. Pallante’s breaking stuff has a run value of 6, and he gets a ton of depth on those pitches due to his extreme over-the-top slot.
Some tweaks to his repertoire from previous seasons have him pitching to more traditional splits, and he’s maintained a high groundball rate as well. That said, Cubs righties have tuned him up pretty good. Pallante gives up a ton of contact, but getting a lot of it on the ground keeps him from getting into more trouble than he probably should. This one might not be easy.
First pitch is at 1:15pm CT on Marquee and The Score.
