Sports

Chicago Cubs lineup: Alcantara starts at DH, Kelly moves up

Bleacher Nation · Jul 21, 2026 21:10 · 4 min read

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CUBS LINEUP — The Cubs came frustratingly close to a really nice come-from-behind win last night at Wrigley Field. Unfortunately, Alex Bregman swung (and missed) at what would have been the game-winning ball-four pitch, and so we start another series from behind. But, hey, the Cubs dropped the opener against Detroit, too, before coming back to take...

CUBS LINEUP — The Cubs came frustratingly close to a really nice come-from-behind win last night at Wrigley Field. Unfortunately, Alex Bregman swung (and missed) at what would have been the game-winning ball-four pitch, and so we start another series from behind.

But, hey, the Cubs dropped the opener against Detroit, too, before coming back to take the series in the final two games. Perhaps they can do that again tonight.

Here’s a look at the Chicago Cubs lineup for Game 2 against the Tigers with David Peterson on the mound for Chicago against the lefty Framber Valdez.

Chicago Cubs Lineup:

・Pete Crow-Armstrong, CF

・Seiya Suzuki, DH

・Alex Bregman, 3B

・Carson Kelly, C

・Michael Busch, 1B

・Nico Hoerner, 2B

・Ian Happ, LF

・Dansby Swanson, SS

・Kevin Alcantara, RF

Against the lefty, Valdez, the Chicago Cubs lineup takes a little different form.

Kevin Alcantara comes in off the bench to play right field, batting ninth. He pushes Dansby Swanson up a lot and Seiya Suzuki to DH, which crowds out Pedro Ramirez, who had a nice run of starts lately. I suspect we’ll see plenty of Ramirez against righties.

Beyond that, Carson Kelly is catching, but also batting cleanup, pushing Michael Busch and Ian Happ down, as they do against most lefties. And that’s pretty much it. Tough loss last night, but it’s time to get back on the horse.

Detroit Tigers Lineup:

・Gleyber Torres, 2B

・Kevin McGonigle, SS

・Hao-Yu Lee, 3B

・Dillon Dingler, DH

・Riley Greene, LF

・Spencer Torkelson, 1B

・Matt Vierling, CF

・Ben Malgeri, RF

・Jake Rogers, C

Pitching Matchup:

Chicago Cubs: David Peterson, LHP

If you just pretend his start against the White Sox (3.2 IP, 9H, 10ER, 3BB, 3K) didn’t happen … then David Peterson has gotten off to a nice start so far with his new team.

His first outing, against the Brewers, featured 5.2 innings of two-run ball, with no walks and just five hits total. And his third outing, against the Orioles, featured 5.0 innings of one-run ball with just two hits (though four walks).

However, the groundballs that were supposed to come along with him (and, indeed, are the reason he made sense for the Cubs in the first place) haven’t materialized yet, but there have been two useful outings made at a time when the Cubs desperately needed it. Keep that going tonight and I think we can start to look back at his early slate in Chicago fondly.

As a reminder, the Tigers (98 wRC+) are slightly below average offensively versus left-handed pitching, but, quite notably, have literally the lowest groundball rate in MLB against southpaws. So maybe we won’t see the grounder machine unleashed tonight after all?

Detroit Tigers: Framber Valdez, LHP

Framber Valdez signed with the Tigers over the offseason, inking a three-year, $115M deal that was almost certainly depressed because of his perceived issues within the clubhouse. And so far, in Detroit, things haven’t gone all that well:

With Detroit: 4.10 ERA over 19 starts (23.5 K%)

Before Detroit: 3.36 ERA over 166 starts (18.6 K%)

And although his 52.3% groundball rate is still exceptionally high, it’s a significant step down from his 60.8% career rate.

But take all that lightly, because this is still a guy who has had massive success in the very recent past. And, indeed, his final start before the All-Star break was one of the best (by Game Score) of his entire career: 7.0 IP, 3H, 1ER, 0BB, 9K.

For his career, Valdez has basically been split neutral, but this season, while lefties are still hitting him the same, righties have taken a step forward (albeit to just a .318 wOBA).

But make no mistake, he has had struggles this season, including an 11-game stretch from May 5 to just before that final start against the A’s: 4.92 ERA (4.91 FIP) over 60.1 IP. Let’s hope the Cubs lineup gets THAT guy tonight at Wrigley Field.

Note: Nobody in the Cubs lineup tonight has had more than 5 at-bats against Framber Valdez in his entire career. Ian Happ is 0-5 with 3Ks. Seiya Suzuki is 0-5 with 2Ks.