Cubs Announce Sudden Michael Busch Decision Before Cardinals Series Finale

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The Cubs announced a sudden Michael Busch decision before the Cardinals series finale, making a notable change ahead of Sunday’s game.

The Chicago Cubs lost 8-4 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday, only their third loss in the team’s last 12 games.

The Cubs look to get back on track Sunday in a 3:15 p.m. ET matinee in a nationally televised game on the ABC network. But before the game, the Cubs announced a lineup move with a four-year veteran who has 14 home runs this season.

Michael Busch’s Rest Day and Recent Workload

Michael Busch is sitting out for the Chicago Cubs on Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals, ending his longest run of the season at first base.

Manager Craig Counsell will instead start rookie switch-hitter Pedro Ramirez at first, a move that raises new questions about how Chicago will divide playing time down the stretch of a playoff push.

Busch had appeared in the large majority of Cubs games at first base since mid-April, a workload heavy enough that Sunday’s absence stood out against an otherwise steady lineup card. Nothing about the move signals injury. It is simply Busch’s turn for a day off, apparently.

Busch joins Carson Kelly, James Triantos, and Tyrone Taylor on the bench Sunday, part of a broader rest rotation the Cubs have leaned on this weekend to keep regulars fresh, according to Bleacher Nation’s Michael Cerami. Counsell has also been mixing in reps for backup infielders behind Busch as the schedule tightens.

Ramirez’s turn at first base is his first career start there, though the rookie slid over to the position mid-game defensively a few times already this season. Ian Happ moves up to cleanup with Busch out, and Michael Conforto slots in as designated hitter. Dansby Swanson and Miguel Amaya round out the bottom of the order behind them.

Sunday’s finale doubles as a return for Edward Cabrera, back on the mound for Chicago for the first time since late June, with the Cubs and Cardinals splitting the first two games of the series at Wrigley Field.

Busch enters the day hitting .246 with a .353 on-base percentage and a .387 slugging percentage, to go with 14 home runs, 63 RBI and 52 runs scored across roughly 122 games, a step back from his breakout the year before. His walk rate has climbed even as his power production has cooled, and recent form has trended upward, with several multi-hit efforts mixed into his last two weeks.

That followed a 2025 season that made Busch a fixture in the middle of Chicago’s order with 34 home runs, 90 RBI and a .261 average, the best year of his career by a wide margin. It’s the standard the Cubs hoped for when they brought him over, and the front office has stayed patient through this year’s dip in power.

Michael Busch’s Road to the Cubs

The Los Angeles Dodgers took Busch 31st overall in the 2019 draft out of the University of North Carolina, where he starred as a sophomore and helped the Tar Heels reach the College World Series. He debuted with Los Angeles in 2023 after winning Pacific Coast League MVP honors at Triple-A Oklahoma City, batting .323 with 27 home runs that season.

Playing time in Los Angeles was scarce behind an established Dodgers infield. On January 11, 2024, the Cubs acquired Busch and right-hander Yency Almonte from Los Angeles for minor league pitcher Jackson Ferris and outfielder Zyhir Hope, according to MLB.com.

Chicago handed Busch the first base job almost immediately, and he tied a franchise record with home runs in five consecutive games during his rookie season before last year’s breakout cemented him as the everyday option there. Sunday’s rest day is the exception, not a sign of anything changing at the position going forward, and the Cubs, sitting at 72-52, are treating it as maintenance rather than a message. Busch is expected back in the lineup as soon as Monday.

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