Chicago Cubs Lineup (6/22/24): Hoerner Leads Off, Nido Debuts, Taillon Starting

The Cubs got absolutely dog-walked in the series opener against the Mets and the result was made even worse by the fact that Shōta Imanaga looked pretty awful. It’s a game Joe Maddon would have said to throw in the trash, but the Cubs’ garbage can is already overflowing at this point. If they don’t get their waste management under control very soon, things could get even uglier.

Jameson Taillon has looked good for the most part and could be just the stopper they need this afternoon. He dominated the Mets back in late April, but they weren’t playing like the hottest team in baseball at the time. And as I’ve stated way too many times already this season, even a sterling pitching performance won’t matter if the offense can’t score runs.

Nico Hoerner will try to get things started as the leadoff hitter and second baseman, then it’s Michael Busch moving up to the two-hole. The rookie is slashing is .357/.449/.524 June and leads the team with 1.7 fWAR on the season. Cody Bellinger is in right, Seiya Suzuki is the DH, Ian Happ is in left, and Christopher Morel is at third. Dansby Swanson is at short, Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center, and Tomás Nido gets his first Cubs start behind the plate.

They’re facing Tylor Megill, who missed all of April and a good chunk of May due to a shoulder strain. He’s been decent since, posting a 3.52 ERA with 37 strikeouts and 13 walks in 30.2 innings. Megill has a varied pitch mix that starts with a 96 mph fastball that plays even harder because he gets tremendous extension with his 6-foot-7 frame.

He’s also got a cutter, slider, splitter, curve, sweeper, and change, though the last few of them are used sparingly. If he’s locating well early and getting ahead in counts, this could be a very tough matchup for the Cubs hitters. But with the wind blowing out hard to center, all they need to do is get one up into that jet stream.

Let’s just hope the Cubs are on the better end of any scoring outbursts today. First pitch is at 1:20pm CT on FS1, Marquee, and 670 The Score.