Chicago Cubs Lineup (4/22/26): Hoerner Leads Off, Ballesteros DH, Boyd Returns

The Cubs can seemingly do no wrong these days, with everything breaking their way during a seven-game winning streak that now includes four victories over the Phillies. They’ve moved into a tie for second in the division, earning the tiebreaker due to their +37 run differential, but the Reds remain in first due to a five-game streak. Then you’ve got the Pirates in last with a 13-10 mark that shows how tough this division could be.

Then again, April is a month in which plenty of lambs look like lions for a while. Things should start to even out as we get into the summer, and that includes the Cubs’ early injury woes. Matthew Boyd, who was down for 15 days due to a left biceps strain that he and the club indicated was due to an early inability to recover well from his starts. We have to hope that was indeed temporary, because they need him.

Pitching has been key to this hot stretch, as the Cubs have not allowed more than four runs in any of their seven wins. They’ve generally been putting up solid offensive numbers, but there’ll come a time when scratching out 2-4 tallies won’t be enough. Sure would be nice to give Boyd plenty of cushion in his return.

Nico Hoerner leads off at second, Alex Bregman is at third, Ian Happ is in left, and Seiya Suzuki cleans up in right. Michael Busch is at first, Dansby Swanson moves up in the order at short, and Moisés Ballesteros is the DH. Miguel Amaya does the catching and Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center.

They’re facing yet another lefty in what feels like far more of them than usual in Kyle Backhus. The sidearming southpaw will be making just his 10th professional start, and first above A-ball, as the opener for righty Taijuan Walker. This is probably Phillies manager Rob Thomson’s attempt to throw a monkey wrench into Craig Counsell’s frequent shuffling at the DH position, so we’ll see how the Cubs counter it.

Backhus has put up very solid strikeout and walk numbers so far, but he’s also allowed a lot of hard contact that has resulted in two homers. He has been much tougher on left-handed hitters due to the angles he creates from that low slot, but righties get a really good look at him. His only goal tonight is to set the stage for Walker, who’s had a very rough go of it through four starts.

The 33-year-old hasn’t gotten very good results in Philly since signing there in 2023, and things have really gone sideways this year. He’s given up six homers in under 19 innings and has 10 walks to go with 16 strikeouts. All hitters are abusing his stuff, but lefties are currently slashing .362/.424/.690 with a gaudy .478 wOBA.

Nothing in Walker’s varied repertoire has worked well to this point, though that could always change. His fastball velocity is only at 92 mph, but it plays even slower due to his 6.1-foot extension that is in MLB’s 17th percentile. That’s part of why he now throws the splitter more than any other pitch, going to it 25% of the time. He might want to reconsider that, especially since it’s thrown primarily to lefties.

His sinker is thrown far more to righties and his cutter is an equal-opportunity pitch, though neither has been effective. Only the slider and curve are seeing positive results, which tells you he might want to consider throwing them more than he has so far. Perhaps that will be the case tonight.

This is the Cubs’ easiest matchup of the season on paper, which is precisely what worries me about it. It’d be nice if they would allay those concerns immediately when the game gets underway at 6:40pm CT on Marquee and The Score.