Chicago Cubs Lineup (9/24/26): Boyd, Bats Try to Salvage Something

Wrigley Field’s detractors will say with more than a hint of intellectual dishonesty that the place smells like urine, but the last two games have ensured that an odor of excrement lingers in the air from the Cubs soiling themselves in consecutive games. They have tried and failed twice now to clinch a playoff berth against a team with nothing to play for, and their two runs in each are indicative of a team that can’t manufacture runs without a little help and some good luck.

A Diamondbacks loss in either of their last two games would have sufficed as well, but they’re not exactly looking to accommodate the Cubs’ desire for a handout. With just one home game remaining in the season, and perhaps the entire year, Matthew Boyd is being called upon to avoid a sweep. Not that his fellow starters have failed to this point, as both Shōta Imanaga and Kevin Gausman pitched more than well enough to earn wins.

No, this is a matter of the offense being unable to do anything against either Marlins starter so far. I will say, however, that I can appreciate the success of both Janson Junk and Ryan Gusto, both of whom are testaments to resilience and hard work. Junk was a journeyman swingman who busted his tail to become a solid starter, and Gusto was cut from his high school team more than once before joining a local homeschool squad.

Gusto badgered a juco coach into giving him an offer, then leveraged his knowledge of the Astros’ bonus pool into a much larger deal than they were initially offering him as an 11th-round pick. While I’d rather the Cubs won those games, I love both men’s stories. As the father of a kid who’s been overlooked for a while and who keeps pushing regardless, I find Junk and Gusto very inspirational. To that end, I’m hoping to have some good news to share soon.

For now, we turn to an offense that seems to believe the top Wild Card spot was clinched several days ago. The Phillies are tied with them and the Padres are now a game ahead, so the Cubs can’t afford to merely tread water.

Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center, Seiya Suzuki plays right, Michael Busch is at first, and Michael Conforto is the DH. Ian Happ is in left, Nico Hoerner takes second, Pedro Ramírez handles the hot corner, and Carson Kelly does the catching. Dansby Swanson bats last at short.

This is a rare series in which they’re seeing the same three starters as when these teams played in Miami almost three weeks ago. That means the Marlins are going with 28-year-old righty Tyler Phillips, a swingman who has started 19 of his 36 appearances this season. He’s a backwards pitcher who throws far more breaking and offspeed pitches, which he should because his 96 mph sinker and four-seam have been very bad. Though the sinker has decent action, he tends to leave it out over the plate too much. The fastball is flat and very hittable, but it’s thrown infrequently.

Phillips’ best pitch is the 87 mph splitter he throws very evenly to hitters on both sides of the plate because it’s got good depth and doesn’t leak to either side. He often lands his 84 mph sweeper for strikes, and his 84 mph curve gets 12-6 movement. Phillips does a decent job of getting whiffs and chase, but his strengths are avoiding hard contact and keeping the ball on the ground.

That was the case for the most part in that previous matchup, as he came away with a win by holding the Cubs to three runs over five innings. Left-handed hitters naturally get a better look at him and have generated better overall results, which we saw with PCA hitting a homer against him, but the more important splits are found in his home/road numbers.

Because loadDepot park has been among the most pitcher-friendly in MLB this season, Phillips’ numbers there are much better. His ability to stay away from barrels means that he’s able to get away with far more mistakes there than he can when he’s the visitor. Of course, that should have been the case in the first two games as well. The wind blowing in from center and right helped the Marlins far more than the Cubs, and now it’s blowing in from left.

Boyd may need to push a little deeper than usual given the heavy taxation of the bullpen in the first two games, and PCA might have to steal several bases, including home, to make something happen. It’d be great to score a couple of touchdowns to save the staff ahead of tomorrow’s doubleheader, but that is probably too much to ask. First pitch is at 1:20pm CT on Marquee and The Score.