The Cubs face the Cardinals on Aug 9, 2025, after a 5-0 loss. Can Colin Rea outduel Andre Pallante and reignite the offense to protect their Wild Card spot?
StatPro MLB Beat Reporter
It’s response time. The Cubs, 66-49 and still clinging to a Wild Card position, were blanked 5-0 in Friday’s series opener at Busch Stadium. Tonight they get a quick shot at amends on national TV, sending Colin Rea against the Cardinals’ Andre Pallante in a rivalry game that now includes Yadier Molina back in the St. Louis dugout as a guest coach. The goal is simple: turn traffic into runs and even the series before it tilts away from them.
Regression to the mean doesn’t show up on the lineup card—you have to force it with better at-bats in leverage.
First pitch is 7:15 PM CT on FOX, with Colin Rea taking the ball opposite right-hander Andre Pallante. The Cubs have dropped four of their last six and are 4-6 over their last 10, so there’s urgency to stabilize the week and keep pace in a tight Wild Card race. St. Louis, meanwhile, has won two straight and is clearly feeding off the Molina bump in the building. For Chicago, this is the moment to quiet the crowd early and make the Cardinals play from behind.
Friday wasn’t about zero opportunities—it was about zero capitalization. Seven hits, no runs, and too many empty trips with traffic on the bases. The top of the order has been scuffling, and when the table-setters aren’t turning at-bats into pressure, everything feels like a two-out miracle chase. The solution isn’t complicated: shorten up with runners aboard, hunt something firm early in counts, and be willing to trade highlight swings for line drives and situational contact. Regression to the mean is real, but you nudge it along with smarter at-bats in leverage.
Matthew Boyd gave the Cubs a chance, working 5 innings with 3 runs on 7 hits, 3 strikeouts, and no walks—enough to keep you in a game if the bats do their part. Ian Happ was the only Cub with multiple hits, underscoring how thin the traffic was from the top group. A quick turnaround means the first inning matters: ambush a mistake, run the bases aggressively, and force St. Louis to cover every angle instead of sitting on a lead. Busch can be a tough offensive park—manufacturing a run early can change the entire tenor of a night.
Colin Rea’s value on a night like this is tempo and strikes. St. Louis is playing with energy—fueled in part by Yadier Molina’s presence as a guest coach—so the job is to starve them of free bases and turn balls in play into outs. Get ahead, widen the zone late, and keep the ball in the yard. If Rea can work into or through the sixth, it protects a bullpen that’s been leaned on plenty in recent weeks and sets up a cleaner route to the finish line.
A much-needed ray of rotation light: Jameson Taillon punched out six in a minor league rehab outing, a positive checkpoint as he works back toward the big-league rotation. No return date yet, but the shape of his stuff trending up matters. Even the possibility of Taillon rejoining soon can allow the Cubs to better sequence their starters, shorten the swingman burden, and keep arms fresher into late August.
Winning is contagious, and the system is carrying its share. High-A South Bend won its fourth straight, 8-5 over Fort Wayne, with a late-inning push—and that came on the heels of the ‘Evan-Edgar-Egbert’ trio starring in a 1-0 shutout of Quad Cities. At Single-A, Myrtle Beach outlasted the Nationals 9-7 to split the series and recently swept a doubleheader from Fredericksburg. It’s a healthy sign when close games tilt your way throughout the organization—those late reps and leveraged swings tend to travel north in September.
There were no significant roster or injury moves announced today. That can feel unsatisfying on a day after a shutout, but it also clarifies the mission: this lineup needs to self-correct in leverage, and this staff needs to buy the bats time. With the schedule tightening and the Wild Card picture packed, stacking clean, professional wins—not perfect ones—becomes the separator.
What to watch tonight: Can the top of the order rediscover its on-base game and pressure St. Louis early? Can Colin Rea set the tone and hand a late lead to a rested back end? If the Cubs turn traffic into two-out RBIs and keep Busch quiet in the first three innings, they’re well positioned to even the set and keep their Wild Card traction. August baseball rewards teams that respond quickly—and tonight is one of those nights.
