The Cubs can finish off a sweep of the Dodgers on Wednesday at Wrigley Field, and they’re doing it with a lineup that looks a little different than the one that rolled to another convincing win on Tuesday.
Chicago’s latest victory was powered by Javier Assad, who turned in one of the best outings of his career and basically went pitch for pitch with Tarik Skubal through several innings of one-run baseball. The Cubs kept hanging around, then cracked it open in the seventh with timely hits from the top of the order. It was another sign of how locked in this group has looked, even before the arrival of its two biggest deadline additions.
Craig Counsell is giving Pete Crow-Armstrong the day off in center field, but he is not taking his bat out of the lineup. Crow-Armstrong will DH for the first time this season and only the second time in his career.
That move becomes easier to manage with Tyrone Taylor available to cover center. Taylor gives the Cubs a steady glove in the middle of the outfield, and with another left-hander on the mound, it also lets Chicago keep Crow-Armstrong’s bat in play.
Ian Happ is also back in left field after sitting for the first time on Tuesday. Counsell had suggested a platoon in left could develop because of Happ’s issues against southpaws, but Happ will be out there again with another lefty starting.
The Cubs are also giving rookie Pedro Ramírez a break after he went 0-for-4 in the 5-1 win. He has just one hit over his last four games combined.
The Dodgers are making their own changes for the finale. Their top three spots stay the same against a left-hander, but Timmy Edman moves into the cleanup spot. Kyle Tucker also shifts into the order ahead of Mookie Betts as the former Cub looks to build on the multi-hit performance he had while facing a booing Wrigley crowd.
Miguel Rojas and Hunter Feduccia are also in, at third base and catcher, respectively.
On the mound, the Cubs are riding Shota Imanaga, who has found his All-Star form again after a rough start to 2026. Over his last seven starts, Imanaga has posted a 2.41 ERA and struck out 35 batters. He has also worked at least 6.0 innings in three straight outings, including a 7.0-inning shutout of the Twins on July 19.
He still carries some home-run risk, and that matters against a Dodgers lineup with plenty of punch. But Chicago’s offense has been producing enough to absorb the occasional solo shot, and if Imanaga keeps this run going, the Cubs’ rotation could look a lot more dangerous than expected heading into October.
The Dodgers will try to avoid the sweep with Eric Lauer, who has spent most of the season in the rotation and owns a 4.50 ERA with a 6-5 record. He has allowed three earned runs in three of his last four starts, and the underlying numbers have not helped much either, with a 15.3 percent strikeout rate and a 32.9 percent ground-ball rate.
Lauer’s path is pretty simple: lean on his movement, get weak contact, and hope the ball finds gloves. Some days that works. Some days it doesn’t.
For the Cubs, that leaves plenty of reason to feel good about their chances if Imanaga can keep the Dodgers quiet.
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