Here are the 26 men who will line up on the third-base line at Wrigley Field Thursday afternoon before the Cubs’ season opener against the Nationals.
Most of these were well-known before; a few were added over the last couple of days. All groups are listed in alphabetical order, except for the starting pitchers, who I have listed in the rotation order where I believe they will begin the season.
Catchers (2)
Miguel Amaya, Carson Kelly
Infielders (5)
Alex Bregman, Michael Busch, Nico Hoerner, Scott Kingery, Dansby Swanson
Outfielders (5)
Dylan Carlson,
Michael Conforto, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ian Happ, Matt Shaw
Designated hitter (1)
Moisés Ballesteros
Starting pitchers (5)
Matthew Boyd, Cade Horton, Shōta Imanaga, Edward Cabrera, Jameson Taillon
Relief pitchers (8)
Ben Brown, Hunter Harvey, Phil Maton, Hoby Milner, Daniel Palencia, Colin Rea, Caleb Thielbar, Jacob Webb
Of these 26 men, nine (Bregman, Cabrera, Carlson, Conforto, Harvey, Kingery, Maton, Milner and Webb) were not in the Cubs organization last year. Three others (Ballesteros, Horton, Palencia) were not on last year’s Opening Day roster.
Three of these players (Carlson, Conforto and Kingery) were non-roster invitees to Spring Training. As such, three players had to be removed from the 40-man roster to make room for them. Those moves began late Tuesday when Tyler Austin was placed on the 60-day injured list and Carlson was added. It’s entirely possible Austin will never play for the Cubs.
Here are the other two 40-man roster moves to add Conforto and Kingery:
Justin Steele was placed on the 60-day injured list. That would target a late May or early June return.
Right-handed reliever Jack Neely was designated for assignment. Neely, who was acquired along with Ben Cowles from the Yankees in the Mark Leiter Jr. deal in 2024, pitched in six games for the Cubs that year with a 9.00 ERA, but did not appear for the team in 2025.
Three other roster moves were announced Wednesday. Seiya Suzuki was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right knee sprain (retroactive to March 22), right-handed pitcher Porter Hodge was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right elbow strain (retroactive to March 22), and left-handed pitcher Jordan Wicks was placed on the 15-day injured list with left forearm inflammation (retroactive to March 22).
There are your Opening Day Cubs. Looking forward to a big year for the North Siders!
