Chicago Cubs Lineup (4/24/26): Hoerner Leads Off, Mo Baller at DH, Taillon Starting

The Cubs have been cruising to a degree we’ve not seen in quite some time, but now comes their toughest test of the season against a Dodgers squad that doesn’t seem to be slowing down. What looked like poor timing for the Cubs following several pitching injuries may be offset by the absence of Edwin Díaz and the fact that none of LA’s top three starters will be going. Even so, we’re looking at an immovable force colliding with an unstoppable object.

Jameson Taillon is the man tasked with either stopping or moving, depending on how you want to assign the roles, and it’s going to be a tall order indeed. Even when giving up six wind-aided runs to the Pirates a little while back, the righty has been solid enough to keep his team competitive. The key tonight will be keeping the ball in the yard, as this isn’t a group you want to have to battle back against.

Not that the Cubs have had issues with comebacks lately, with three of their last 10 wins coming in walk-off fashion. They’ve done it in a variety of ways, perhaps most notably with very effective pinch-hitting from a bench that is far more dynamic than in the past. Michael Busch is currently their only player with negative fWAR (-0.1), but he’s shown signs of life lately.

Six Cubs are currently batting over .300, nine have a wRC+ of 100 or greater, and 11 have hit at least one homer. This is as balanced an attack as they’ve had since winning the World Series, and an argument could be made that they still aren’t even playing as well as expected. I suspect we’ll see Busch and Alex Bregman come on strong as others fade, then the cycle will repeat throughout the season.

Nico Hoerner should remain the most consistent of the bunch, and he leads off at second base. Busch is at first, Bregman is across the diamond, and Ian Happ cleans up in left. Seiya Suzuki is in right, Moisés Ballesteros is the DH, and Carson Kelly does the catching. Pete Crow-Armstrong returns home in center and Dansby Swanson plays short.

On the bump for the home team is 26-year-old righty Emmet Sheehan, who sounds exactly like a guy who went to Boston College. Born in New York, Sheehan attended Fordham Preparatory School in the Bronx before finishing up at the Salisbury School in Connecticut. This is a man who knows his way around a proper cocktail party. A sixth-round pick in 2021, he matriculated through the system quickly on the strength of monster strikeout numbers.

Sheehan made his big league debut on June 16, 2023 and ended up with decent numbers over 13 appearances (11 starts) that season. He missed all of 2024 with shoulder soreness, followed by elbow reconstruction, and finally returned in June of 2025. He was electric over 15 appearances (12 starts), striking out 89 batters in 73.1 innings with a 2.82 ERA. Things have not gone as smoothly in what he hopes will be his first full season in the majors, as Sheehan has not been very consistent through four starts.

Sheehan’s fastball has been the biggest issue, and the problems could stem from his velocity sitting just over 94 mph after being at 95.6 mph last year. He’s also leaving it belt-high far too often, making it difficult to set up his slider and change. The former makes up over half of his pitches to right-handed hitters and the latter accounts for a quarter of his offerings to lefties, which is where the issues come in.

Having a nasty slider that helps to limit righties to a .148/.226/.148 slash line would be great if Sheehan’s stuff worked well against lefties. It hasn’t to this point, as evidenced by a .320/.382/.700 line that includes all four of the homers he’s allowed. Much of that has come at home, where he’s been a little worse this season. All of that is in conflict with what he’s done previously, so we could see a little correction coming.

This will be his first appearance against the Cubs, and he’s only got a total of seven at-bats against Bregman and Michael Conforto. While I like how this sets up for the lefty batters like Busch and PCA, something tells me a very rude reckoning is coming on the heels of all those wins. Let’s hope I’m proven wrong.

First pitch from Chavez Ravine is at 9:15pm on Apple TV, with The Score carrying radio coverage.