Chicago Cubs Lineup (6/28/26): PCA Leads Off, Conforto in RF, Rolison Starting Bullpen Game

The Cubs evened the series last night with a decisive win over Kyle Harrison and the Brewers, which means they now have a chance to win it this afternoon against Brandon Woodruff. That’s no mean feat, especially when Craig Counsell is being forced to go with a Johnny Wholestaff approach, but this team is going to live and die by its offense for at least the next several weeks.

Ben Brown is out indefinitely with a stress reaction in his neck, Edward Cabrera‘s return from a strained hamstring is likewise uncertain, and Jameson Taillon won’t return until some point in the second half. That means Ryan Rolison, who previously served as an opener two weeks ago in San Francisco, will start this one. He has recorded at least four outs in 10 of his 25 appearances this season, and Counsell will likely try to get him through more than one inning today.

Jordan Wicks was recalled this morning and will serve as the bulk guy in his third MLB appearance of the season. The lefty missed a good deal of time with left elbow inflammation before making two emergency starts in late May, after which he caught a nasty case of ERA inflammation. He might have already run out of chances were it not for all the other injuries, but the Cubs need any arms they can find right now.

We could also see new addition Bryse Wilson after that. Though his only MLB appearance this season lasted all of two innings, the husky righty was working as a starter for Triple-A Lehigh Valley and should be able to provide the innings the Cubs will need with three more games at home coming up before their next day off. This is a situation in which Wilson and/or Wicks may be forced to wear it even if they’re getting hit around.

The best solution is for the bats to stay hot. That starts with Pete Crow-Armstrong in center, Alex Bregman at third, and Michael Busch at first. Seiya Suzuki is the DH, Ian Happ is in left, Nico Hoerner is at second, and Michael Conforto is in right. Miguel Amaya works behind the dish and Dansby Swanson is the shortstop.

Opposing them is the most famous person ever from Tupelo, MS (don’t fact-check that). Woodruff missed all of 2024 and most of ’25 due to shoulder surgery, then was on the IL for nearly two months this season with shoulder inflammation. This will be just his eighth start of the season and second since being activated, but he’s looked no worse for the wear. In fact, his start last week against the Reds saw him through six scoreless innings with one hit allowed while striking out 10 with no walks.

The burly righty’s velocity is way down from his prime, dropping from 96-97 mph to 92 or less, but his pitchability remains as strong as ever. What I find very interesting is that he’s actually throwing his four-seam more than usual while dialing the slider back to the point that it’s almost nonexistent. He’s also throwing the sinker a little less, perhaps because it’s simply not working very well for him this season.

The changeup velocity is also down, but it has maintained the same separation from the fastball to keep its value high. Always an elite strike-thrower, Woodruff has lowered his walk rate to a career-best 5.0% so far, which helps to make up for a strikeout rate that has also dropped. Though he doesn’t miss many bats and has an anemic 27.8% groundball rate, Woodruff makes up for it by avoiding hard contact.

Simply put, this is a dude who just knows how to pitch. He’s also putting up distinct reverse splits after having been almost perfectly neutral throughout his career. The disparity is very dramatic at home, some of which could be due to the relatively small sample so far. As such, I won’t put much credence in those numbers just yet. What I will point out is that these Cubs hitters carry a .269/.356/.471 slash with five homers in 104 at-bats against Woodruff into this game.

Happ, Suzuki, and Swanson have all feasted on his pitching over the years, and all of them have been hitting well lately in general. As long as the Cubs’ pitchers can hold the line, I really like how this one sets up. First pitch is at 1:10pm CT on Marquee and The Score.