Game Day Preview: Joshua Báez to Make His MLB Debut in Chicago
THE CARDINAL CHRONICLE
Game Day Preview: Joshua Báez Makes His MLB Debut as Cardinals Look to Answer Cubs
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur
The St. Louis Cardinals return to Wrigley Field this afternoon looking for considerably more offense than they produced in Friday’s series opener.
They will also introduce one of the most intriguing young hitters in the organization to the Major Leagues.
Joshua Báez makes his MLB debut.
First pitch is scheduled for 1:20 p.m. CT, with right-hander Michael McGreevy starting for St. Louis against Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd. The game will be televised on Cardinals.TV and Marquee Sports Network.
St. Louis Cardinals: RHP Michael McGreevy, 4-9, 3.64 ERA, 85 strikeouts
Chicago Cubs: LHP Matthew Boyd, 8-1, 3.50 ERA, 66 strikeouts.
The Cardinals enter at 61-61 after Chicago won Friday’s opener 3-0.
That defeat dropped St. Louis back to .500 and 3½ games behind Arizona and Philadelphia for the final National League Wild Card position. Miami is also ahead of the Cardinals, sitting three games back.
There are still enough games remaining to make up that ground.
But there are not enough games remaining to continue giving away afternoons like Friday.
Matthew Liberatore pitched well enough to win.
The Cardinals did not hit well enough to give him a chance.
Chicago starter Clay Holmes retired the first 16 Cardinals he faced before José Fermín broke up the perfect game with a one-out single in the sixth inning. Holmes worked 6⅔ scoreless innings, allowed only that one hit and needed just 80 pitches.
That was the Cardinals’ offense.
One hit.
No runs.
Liberatore, meanwhile, matched Holmes for much of the afternoon. The two starting pitchers combined to retire the first 28 batters of the game before Nico Hoerner singled against Liberatore in the fifth inning. Liberatore generated 16 swinging strikes and kept Chicago scoreless into the sixth.
The game changed after Oliver Marmol removed him.
George Soriano inherited runners and faced Seiya Suzuki, who drove a 2-1 changeup over the left-field wall for a three-run homer.
That was it.
Cubs 3, Cardinals 0.
Suzuki’s home run was his 21st of the season and continued a tremendous second half in which he has become one of Chicago’s most dangerous hitters.
The loss also shifted the season series.
Chicago now leads St. Louis 6-5 with two games remaining.
That means the Cardinals must win today and Sunday if they want to claim the 2026 season series against their oldest rival.
More importantly, they need victories to remain within striking distance of the Wild Card.
Chicago does not have that problem.
The Cubs are 72-51, have won eight of their last 10 and hold the top National League Wild Card position comfortably. They have outscored their opponents by more than 100 runs this season and continue to look like a club preparing for October.
The Cardinals are trying to prove they still belong in that conversation.
Saturday brings an interesting way to begin that effort.
Joshua Báez is here.
The Cardinals announced after Friday’s loss that Báez was being promoted from Triple-A Memphis and would be in Saturday’s starting lineup for his Major League debut.
Few players in the organization have done more this season to earn the opportunity.
Báez hit .256 with 34 home runs, 90 RBI, 21 stolen bases and a .901 OPS over 103 games at Memphis. His 34 home runs lead Triple-A and rank among the highest totals anywhere in Minor League Baseball.
The power has never been in question.
Báez hit four home runs in one game earlier this season, becoming the first player in Memphis Redbirds history to accomplish the feat. He has spent the summer driving baseballs out of parks while also showing enough athleticism to play all three outfield positions and steal 20-plus bases.
The question has always been whether he could make enough consistent contact to access that power against advanced pitching.
Now we begin finding out.
Major League pitchers will challenge him immediately.
They will expand the strike zone.
They will change speeds.
They will throw breaking pitches when he expects fastballs and fastballs when he expects something soft.
Nobody should expect Báez to arrive and immediately become the finished product.
That is not how player development works.
But the Cardinals should allow him to play.
He did not come to Chicago to sit on the bench and watch veterans receive at-bats.
Báez needs Major League pitching.
He needs Major League adjustments.
He needs the experience of failing one day and making the adjustment the next.
And there may not be a much better environment for a Major League debut than Wrigley Field against the Cubs with the Cardinals still playing meaningful baseball.
This is not September with both clubs 20 games out.
There is something riding on these at-bats.
That matters.
For Báez, it is an opportunity to begin establishing himself as part of the next Cardinals lineup.
For St. Louis, it is an opportunity to inject some much-needed power and energy into an offense that managed exactly one hit Friday.
He should not be asked to rescue that offense by himself.
Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson, Iván Herrera and JJ Wetherholt remain the hitters the Cardinals must count on most heavily.
Báez simply adds another weapon.
A potentially very dangerous one.
He will face an experienced left-hander in Boyd, who enters at 8-1 with a 3.50 ERA.
Boyd has been one of Chicago’s most reliable starting pitchers and has provided stability in a rotation strengthened considerably around the trade deadline.
The Cardinals saw him recently at Busch Stadium and know what he can do when allowed to settle into a rhythm.
Boyd changes speeds, works both sides of the plate and can generate swings and misses without depending on overpowering velocity.
Against a left-handed starter, the Cardinals should have an opportunity to build a lineup with several right-handed bats.
Walker becomes especially important.
So does Herrera.
And now Báez joins that group.
The mistake would be assuming that facing a left-hander automatically means the offense will improve.
Friday showed how quickly a game can disappear when hitters allow the opposing starter to dictate every at-bat.
Holmes threw only 80 pitches while working into the seventh inning.
That should bother the Cardinals almost as much as the one-hit total.
They did not make him uncomfortable.
They did not create traffic.
They did not force Chicago’s bullpen into the game early.
They did not make the Cubs play under pressure.
That has to change today.
The Cardinals do not necessarily need five home runs.
They need baserunners.
They need long at-bats.
They need to make Boyd work with men on base.
They need to create an inning in which a ground ball, sacrifice fly or two-out single actually matters.
Báez’s power is exciting.
So is Walker’s.
But baseball games are rarely won by waiting eight innings for someone to hit a three-run homer with nobody on base.
The Cardinals need a lineup, not a home run contest.
McGreevy will be charged with giving that lineup time to work.
The 25-year-old right-hander enters with a 3.64 ERA despite a 4-9 record that continues to say considerably more about his run support than his ability to pitch.
McGreevy’s game has never been based on overwhelming hitters.
He commands the baseball.
He changes speeds.
He works quickly when things are going well and relies on movement and location to produce poor contact.
There is still something to be said for a starting pitcher who knows how to pitch.
His challenge today will be significant.
Chicago’s lineup is deep, disciplined and capable of creating damage from several spots in the order.
Pete Crow-Armstrong remains one of the National League’s most dynamic players.
Suzuki is swinging the bat as well as anyone in the Cubs lineup.
Alex Bregman has been one of baseball’s hottest hitters since the All-Star break.
Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner, Michael Busch and Ian Happ give Chicago very few comfortable places for a pitcher to relax.
McGreevy cannot afford free baserunners.
That is especially true with Suzuki.
His three-run homer Friday was a perfect example of why putting runners aboard against Chicago is dangerous.
One mistake becomes three runs.
McGreevy must attack the strike zone without living in the center of it.
He needs early-count ground balls.
He needs the defense working behind him.
He needs to prevent Crow-Armstrong from creating havoc on the bases and keep the heart of the Cubs order from hitting with runners aboard.
Most importantly, he needs to give the Cardinals length.
Sunday’s pitching matchup has already changed from the original series plan, with Chicago announcing that Edward Cabrera will return from the injured list to face Hunter Dobbins.
That makes winning today even more important.
The Cardinals do not want to arrive Sunday needing a victory simply to avoid a sweep.
They entered Wrigley having won three consecutive series.
They arrived above .500.
They arrived close enough to a Wild Card position to make every game worth watching.
Friday erased some of that momentum.
It does not have to erase all of it.
A win today puts the Cardinals back above .500.
It pulls the season series even again.
It gives them an opportunity to win the series Sunday.
And it sends a message that Friday’s offensive disappearance was one bad afternoon rather than the beginning of another slide.
There is another reason today feels different.
For weeks, Cardinals fans have watched the organization talk about the future.
Today, part of that future walks onto Wrigley Field wearing a Major League uniform.
Joshua Báez has spent the season hitting baseballs over Minor League fences.
Now comes the next test.
Major League pitching.
A pennant race.
Wrigley Field.
The Cubs.
That is not a bad place to find out what you have.
The Cardinals should enjoy the debut.
Then they should get back to the business of winning a baseball game.
Michael McGreevy needs to keep Chicago off the board.
The offense needs to make Matthew Boyd work.
And Joshua Báez gets his first chance to show that those 34 Triple-A home runs were only the beginning.
Welcome to the Show.
The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
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Photo Credit: Joshua Báez, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB