The Reds are 8-7 since the All-Star break and come off a series loss to the Braves that included that rain-delayed fiasco at the Bristol Motor Speedway. They enter this series on the fringes of the wild-card race, four games behind the third wild-card spot.
For more on the Reds, here’s Wick Terrell, manager of our SB Nation Reds site Red Reporter.
The Cincinnati Reds sit at 58-54 at the outset of this series in Chicago, four games back of the final NL Wild Card spot and chasing the San Diego Padres
ADand New York Mets.
It’s a position in which they’ve been for quite some time, as this Reds club has not yet been swept in a single series so far in 2025 yet also hasn’t managed to put together a win streak long enough to write home about. A win here, a loss there keeps you right around the .500 mark, something the Reds have flirted with seemingly every single day this season.
Still, with Rob Manfred’s Super-expanded Megaplayoffs, that affords one the opportunity to still tangibly pursue postseason baseball, something the Reds still will play for during the remaining 50 games of the season. Given their extended track record of not having anything to play for come August, you’d have thought the front office would have recognized that at the recent trade deadline and augmented the team significantly, but instead they chose a path that’s been called into question by just about everyone.
They added the worst hitter in the game in Ke’Bryan Hayes - and took on every single dollar of his contract. He’ll provide excellent defense at third base, sure, but at what cost to the offense each day?
Miguel Andujar was brought in to hide in left field and only hit LHP, something he’s done well — albeit with comically high BABIP and a perilously low sample size.
Zack Littell, meanwhile, will start Tuesday, though he was brought in from Tampa Bay having given up more homers so far in 2025 than any other pitcher — and his addition was also something of planned subtraction, as Nick Martinez will slide into a bullpen role while Chase Burns runs into his innings limit.
If the Reds are really going to go this year, it’ll be on the backs of their starting rotation, a place that will hopefully float Littell with it. Lefties Nick Lodolo and Andrew Abbott have been simply brilliant this year, and they’ll start the bookend games this series. And if the Reds can keep their heads above water through the end of this series, they’ll welcome Hunter Greene back at some point in mid-August to jolt an already elite starting rotation into perhaps the best in the entire sport.
The Reds, it would appear, are finally playing a big series against the Cubs in August again. It’s precisely what Wrigley Field is for.
Fun facts
Today is the 64th day since the Cubs last faced the Reds, also at home, on June 1. The Cubs won that day to win the series, two games to one. Just a week earlier, they had won two of three at Cincinnati. After the finale of this series on Wednesday, the Cubs will face the Reds only once more in their final 48 games, closing out the next-to-last week of the season with four games at Cincinnati, beginning Sept. 18.
After this series, the Cubs will play three games at St. Louis. This will be the third of only five times all season that the Cubs will face NL Central rivals in back-to-back — and the only one of the five times that does not include the Pirates.The Cubs played at Pittsburgh and Milwaukee, April 29-May 4, then hosted the Pirates and Brewers, June 12-19.They will host the same teams Aug. 15-21, then travel to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati for games Sept. 15-21
(Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
Probable pitching matchups
Monday: Michael Soroka, RHP (3-8, 4.87 ERA, 1.131 WHIP, 4.12 FIP with Nationals) vs. Nick Lodolo, LHP (8-6, 3.09 ERA, 1.047 WHIP, 3.73 FIP)
Tuesday: Shōta Imanaga, LHP (8-4, 3.25 ERA, ) vs. Zack Littell, RHP (8-8, 3.58 ERA, 1.118 WHIP, 4.89 FIP with Rays)
Wednesday: Cade Horton, RHP (5-3, 3.42 ERA, 1.290 WHIP, 4.12 FIP) vs. Andrew Abbott, LHP (8-1, 2.15 ERA, 1.113 WHIP, 3.59 FIP)
Times & TV channels
Monday: 7:05 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network
Tuesday: 7:05 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network, TBS (outside the Cubs and Reds market territories)
Wednesday: 1:20 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network
Prediction
Two left-handed starters (and two good ones) are going for the Reds, so this one won’t be easy. But I believe the Cubs can take two of three here.
Up next
The Cubs have Thursday off, then travel to St. Louis for a three-game series against the Cardinals beginning Friday evening.
More from bleedcubbieblue.com:
- Cubs 5, Orioles 3: Justin Turner walks it off
- Orioles 4, Cubs 3: Those leadoff walks will just kill you
- 2025 Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 110
- Cubs vs. Orioles Sunday 8/3 game threads
- Minor League Wrap: Birds are hot, 9-1 over RiverDogs
- Cubs roster move: Michael Soroka activated, Brooks Kriske DFA
- Baseball history unpacked, August 4
