Chicago Cubs Lineup (8/15/25): Busch Leads Off, Tucker DH, Caissie Sitting, Rea Starting

The Cubs are 5-7 in August and 11-13 since the All-Star Break, dragging them eight games behind the Brewers with a long series looming. Before that gets here, however, they’ve got to go through a Pirates team that has dropped five straight and won’t have Paul Skenes going. This should — SHOULD — be an easy series for the Cubs to win, but nothing is easy when you score less than three runs per game.

Though they’ve averaged 3.67 tallies since the break, the Cubs are at 2.92 in August after failing to scratch out more than one yesterday. Three of their core hitters have negative fWAR marks on the month, with Pete Crow-Armstrong also carrying a team-worst -52 wRC+ through 42 plate appearances. Kyle Tucker is at 13 and Willi Castro is at a nice round 0, which is great for a guy who was supposed to have significantly improved the bench.

I don’t care that these numbers can turn around in a hurry or that I’m supposed to be the voice of reason here. This team is playing like straight ass lately and the players are wearing their frustration on their faces like a giant advertising patch. Owen Caissie needs to be in the lineup every single day until the regular outfield starters figure out how the hell to hit again.

Ian Happ has actually been okay for the most part in the second half, but PCA and Tucker are clearly going through mental and/or physical issues. I posited in a previous piece that Tucker’s bum finger might be dragging him down, though someone pointed out that June was his best month. Then again, some injuries can be played through for a while before eventually becoming too much to handle. That doesn’t explain why the right fielder’s superb plate approach has suddenly gone to hell, so maybe he’s just in his own head.

It doesn’t matter who they’re facing or who is on the bump right now, because this team can’t score enough runs on a regular basis to win more than one game in a row. So unless Colin Rea holds the Pirates to one run, which he did against the Cards last weekend, the Cubs are cooked. I’d say we can’t expect that from Rea, but he’s given up just a single score in four of his last seven starts.

The good news is that almost all those players whose hitting I lamented above are in the lineup. Michael Busch leads off, Seiya Suzuki is in right, Tucker is the DH, and Happ is in left. Crow-Armstrong is in center, Nico Hoerner is at second, Dansby Swanson plays short, and Matt Shaw is at third. Reese McGuire rounds things out behind the plate.

It’s very possible — like, even! — that they prove me wrong this afternoon, but I strongly dislike having Caissie on the bench when he could be giving some frustrated hitters a break.

They’re up against rookie righty Braxton Ashcraft, who is apparently not related to Reds reliever Graham Ashcraft. Only two players in MLB history have that surname and they’re both pitching at the same time for NL Central teams? Gotta be some pretty long odds on that. I’m not sure what they are, but I’m sure Emmanuel Clase or Luis Ortiz could get the answer for us.

I actually saw Ashcraft pitch in person earlier in the year when he faced the Iowa Cubs in Cade Horton‘s season debut. Caissie and McGuire both collected hits in the game, for what it’s worth. A big dude at 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, Ashcraft was a standout athlete for Robinson High School near Waco, Texas. Every time I hear of that city, I think of the time many years ago when someone told me it stood for “We Ain’t Comin’ Out.”

Ashcraft once caught seven touchdown passes in a game, tallying 325 yards on 12 total receptions, and his numbers as a junior were freakish. The wideout had 104 receptions for 2,090 yards and 37 touchdowns in his lone season on varsity, then apparently opted not to play as a senior. I can’t find anything on his pitching stats, but Perfect Game had him has the No. 3 righty prep arm in Texas and No. 15 in the country as a senior.

The Pirates saw fit to draft him in the second round to pull him away from his commitment to Baylor, then he spent over seven years in the minors before breaking through in late May of this season as a reliever. This will be Ashcraft’s third MLB start and he has yet to complete four innings as a big leaguer, but he could probably go a little deeper if needed.

Ashcraft has put up some big strikeout numbers in the past and walks have never been an issue, plus he keeps the ball on the ground and in the park. However, allowing just one homer in nearly 37 innings is probably not a sustainable trend. Then again, he’s facing a team that knows a little something about helping pitchers look better than they actually are.

Though he’s got a 97 mph fastball, Ashcraft throws his 92 mph slider more than any other pitch. That slide-piece gets less depth and sweep than most, making it kind of like a death ball curve, and it’s been touched up a bit as a result. The fastball isn’t very notable, just a standard offering that actually plays down a little due to Ashcraft’s lower-than-average extension. His curve and sinker combine for a little over a third of his repertoire, and both have been very good pitches.

The best of his weapons from a per-pitch standpoint is the changeup that is only thrown occasionally to left-handed hitters. If he can figure out a way to dial that one up while maintaining its effectiveness, he could really make a name for himself. Ashcraft’s ability to avoid barrels has helped him so far, and his big reverse splits could propel him if he can figure out how to beat right-handed hitters.

Righties are slashing .294/.322/.412 against him so far, with most of the damage coming in Pittsburgh. He’s been money on the road, holding lefty batters to a .120/.154/.160 slash line, but maybe the Cubs can change the narrative there. They’ll have to do something to shake off their funk this weekend or it’s going to get (even more) unbearable around these parts.

First pitch is at 1:20pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.

Back at @ofcwrigleyfield.

Watch today’s game on the Marquee Sports Network App. pic.twitter.com/Xidvmbhzh9

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 15, 2025