Michael

Busch

Chicago manager Craig Counsell will stick with a near-identical lineup, with the exception of Matt Shaw at the hot corner instead of Pedro Ramírez, after Tuesday’s unexpected Game 1 shutout loss at the hands of Michael King and the Padres. Crow-Armstrong struck out three times in four plate appearances in that defeat. Here’s the full lineup: Crow-Armstrong (CF), Alex Bregman (DH), Michael Busch (1B), Seiya Suzuki (RF), Ian Happ (LF), Nico Hoerner (2B), Matt Shaw (3B), Carson Kelly (C) and Dansby Swanson (SS).

Bregman is ready for the start of the postseason after returning to Chicago’s lineup less than one week after suffering multiple facial fractures when he was hit by a foul ball in the on-deck circle. It’ll be rookie Pedro Ramírez filling in at the hot corner with Bregman limited to DH as he continues to recover. Here’s the full lineup for Tuesday’s series opener in San Diego: Pete Crow-Armstrong (CF), Bregman (DH), Michael Busch (1B), Seiya Suzuki (RF), Ian Happ (LF), Nico Hoerner (2B), Ramírez (3B), Carson Kelly (C) and Dansby Swanson (SS).

Busch was hit by a pitch in the second inning, then got on base with a single in the fourth before getting his revenge with a solo homer off Nick Lodolo in the sixth. The 28-year-old first baseman is hitting .239/.350/.397 with 20 homers and 77 RBI across 680 plate appearances. It’s his third straight 20-homer campaign, but a steep drop-off from his 34-homer season in 2025.

It was Busch’s 18th of the season, but it’s hard to ignore how cold he’s looked of late: He’s hitting .172 in his last 15 games and has just a .391 slugging percentage on the season. The underlying numbers aren’t quite awful, but his barrel rate of 9.0 percent is the lowest it’s been as a full-time starter. Sure would be nice for the Cubs if this game got him on a heater as they look to head to the postseason.

Busch has been fairly disappointing in hitting .239/.349/.391. It’s the final number there that’s the real problem; Busch hit 34 homers and slugged .523 in 592 plate appearances last season. This year, with his bat speed and his exit velocity numbers all down, he has 17 homers in 607 plate appearances.

Busch followed Pete Crow-Armstrong in the first inning with a solo homer off Bryan Hudson. He later drew a walk in the sixth. The 28-year-old first baseman is up to 15 homers and 64 RBI while hitting .244/.351/.389 across 561 plate appearances. His batted ball quality is down significantly from last season, making it difficult to follow up his 34-homer campaign. Though 2025 might’ve been the outlier, as his batted-ball metrics are more in line with his 2024 output.

Busch had been mired in a bit of a power outage lately, slashing just .253/.290/.316 with one homer, nine RBI and an 18/4 K/BB ratio over 100 plate appearances in his last 22 ballgames. He’ll get a day off to reset in this one with Pedro Ramirez filling in at first base and batting sixth against Cardinals’ right-hander Hunter Dobbins.

Busch spoiled Cade Cavalli’s no-hit bid with a two-out single in the seventh inning. That would be the only hit that the Cubs’ offense would get in the brutal offensive performance. For the season, the 28-year-old slugger is hitting .245/.353/.388 with 14 homers and 63 RBI in 544 plate appearances on the season.

Busch came back to haunt his former organization by tagging Justin Wrobleski for a solo shot in the fifth inning before adding a two-run single in the sixth. The 28-year-old first baseman is up to 14 homers on the year and should reach the 20-homer threshold for the third consecutive season.

Busch’s two-run single in the sixth inning capped off a five-run inning and extended the Cubs’ lead to 8-0 in a game Chicago would eventually win 11-0. He’s hitting .245 with a .766 OPS and 56 RBI this season.