Toyota Road Report: June 16-21

For the first time since 2022, the South Bend Cubs are heading back to the Midwest League postseason! Last week was a great one at Four Winds Field. Big crowds, great winning, and the West Division first-half clincher on Saturday night. With the playoff spot secured, the Cubs still have a few more games to check-off the list in the first-half, as they’ll meet their Hoosier State rival, the Fort Wayne TinCaps at Parkview Field for the first time this season starting on Tuesday.

The first-half will conclude with Thursday night’s game in Downtown Fort Wayne. On Friday, records reset, and the dash to September begins for the rest of the Midwest League. With their playoff spot locked up, South Bend will hope to continue their winning ways, of course. And they’ll look to do it against the TinCaps in the third separate six-game series the in-state foes have played against each other this year.

Back in late April and to conclude May, the TinCaps walked into Four Winds Field and took five of six games away from the Cubs. It was the only series loss for South Bend in the first-half. South Bend returned the favor by winning five of six games at home to wrap up May. What does the third series between these two have in store?

Fort Wayne certainly had their best series so far this season in that first six-gamer early in the campaign. Since, the TinCaps have struggled. However, they were experiencing the same struggles before that first series. Never discount what Fort Wayne can do, especially with power. They have some lethally strong bats that can hit the ball out of the ballpark, and with South Bend just getting done with the Peoria Chiefs, who lead the Midwest League in home runs, they’ll need to have the same strategy in mind taking on Fort Wayne.

Each of the last four series played between the Cubs and TinCaps have featured one of the teams winning five of the six games. South Bend won five games in both June and August of 2025. The TinCaps found success in late April of this year, and the Cubs dealt the revenge back to conclude May a couple of weeks ago.

Although the Cubs have had a few promotions and departures from a player perspective lately, their roster stays relatively the same from the last South Bend and Fort Wayne series. But for the TinCaps, their roster is literally a carbon copy. Fort Wayne will utilize the exact same starting rotation that they did last time, which includes former first-round pick and top San Diego Padres pitching prospect Kash Mayfield.

The 21-year-old Mayfield has often tormented the rest of the Midwest League this season, and there is a ton of talent in that left arm. But in each of his starts against the Cubs, he has given up two runs or more; Something he has done only four times in 10 total outings this year. The Cubs certainly tore up Mayfield the last time he threw against the Cubs, giving up six runs and needing to depart in the 1st inning. This past weekend, the Cubs chased both Jacob Odle and Blake Aita out of the game in the 1st inning for Peoria. Back on May 29, Mayfield surrendered a 1st inning home run to Josiah Hartshorn.

Last time out for Mayfield on June 5 versus Lake County, he allowed three runs over 5.0 innings, including three home runs. He has given up four home runs over his last two starts after allowing just one all season heading into that May 29 start at Four Winds Field. He’ll be looking for a bounce back outing, and the game he will be throwing will be the first of the second-half. You know he will want to get the TinCaps going off the right foot with half number-two beginning, and a playoff spot on the line again.

When it comes to power ability, the TinCaps have a ton of it. They have clubbed 66 home runs this season, which ranks in the top-half of the Midwest League, but its more so about the guys who have hit them. Because their power comes from some key contributors.

Somehow, the Baltimore Orioles released Jake Cunningham. He was picked up by the Padres and now has 14 home runs in 51 games with a .282 average. Five of his home runs this season have come against the South Bend Cubs. Few opposing players have enjoyed hitting at Four Winds Field more than Cunningham this year, and he’ll take on the Cubs for the first time at his home ballpark.

You can say similar notions about Alex McCoy, who has 10 homers with a .278 average this season. McCoy has a .935 OPS in 12 games against the Cubs this season, and is consistently finding games. Outfielder Kasen Wells had a four-hit game in Fort Wayne’s lone win over South Bend in the last series between the two, and Lamar King Jr. is batting .324 versus South Bend in 11 games. Rosman Verdugo has clubbed three home runs against the Cubs in nine games, as the younger brother of Luis Verdugo, who was on the 2022 Midwest League Championship team, has consistently been a thorn in the Cubs side over the last couple seasons.

Again, the first three games of this series will not count for any sort of playoff spot, but the Cubs want to close the first-half strong. If they can win all three games in the early week, they would position themselves with a 41-21 record in the first-half. The Cubs are the only team in the Midwest League that can even sniff a 40-win first-half. No other team in the league has that opportunity.

Then once Friday comes along, it is new life for Fort Wayne. They have a half-season to try and get into the playoffs, and it is all chips in. South Bend will need to be ready for that push.

Players to watch on South Bend…

Josiah Hartshorn, INF/OF: Per usual, you have to start with the Midwest League Player of the Week! Josiah Hartshorn is the most talked about prospect in all of baseball right now. The hype is all earned as well. In being named Midwest League Player of the Week, this has been a culmination of everything Hartshorn has done in a South Bend Cubs uniform so far. He has played 18 games, reaching base in all of them. He is riding a 12-game hitting streak. He has eight home runs. Hartshorn has homered in five of his last seven games, and is showing no signs of stopping. Keep in mind he is not going to turn 20-years-old until February. What he is doing at the High-A level has really never been done before in the Cubs organization. The last Cubs prospect to be playing at High-A in the season following being drafted out of high school was Billy McKinney in 2014. Thanks to Greg Huss for that nugget. Stuff like this doesn’t happen, and it’s not like the rest of Hartshorn’s game has been just okay either. Everything he is doing is stellar. In the field, on the base paths. This is not your typical teenage prospect. Everything he is doing is what guys who are 23 or 24-years-old wish to do at this level at times. It is one of those situations where you have to say to yourself, enjoy this and relish in it, because things like this with Hartshorn just don’t happen. Enjoy the show.

Koen Moreno, RHP: The guy that earned the big W in 5.0 very strong innings in the South Bend Cubs first-half clincher is on a roll right now. Since a tough outing to begin the season on Opening Night in Peoria, Koen Moreno has been the man with the plan in South Bend’s rotation. It is such a good story too. A guy that went down with Tommy John Surgery required in early 2024 came back in late 2025 as a reliever and was an absolute menace. Now Moreno is fully recovered in that two-year window of the Tommy John recovery when many pitchers talk about feeling like their old selves again. Could not be happier for Koen Moreno. And now that he is on the high road, we are seeing the guy that the Cubs manifested with that fifth-round pick in the 2020 MLB shortened Draft that was only five rounds. The Cubs found something in Moreno, and he is not only throwing harder and harder, but the mix is fooling hitters across the circuit. You would imagine Moreno at some point is going to get a shot at Double-A Knoxville, but for as long as he is in South Bend making his weekly start, he’s going to give South Bend a chance to win. If he sticks around, Game 1 of the postseason could belong to Koen.

Jose Escobar, INF/OF: One of the newest South Bend Cubs sure is making quite the impact. Due to Leonel Espinoza hitting the injured list, Jose Escobar is getting a chance to play more left field. And with Kade Snell still on the IL for the time being, Escobar could be the man in the corner outfield spots along with Miguel Useche until it’s time for Kade to come back. The benefit of adding Escobar is like Christian Olivo, he is a Swiss army knife. Escobar can play all over the diamond, and he also adds another solid left-handed bat for Daniel Wasinger in the lineup. Once Snell comes back too, the balance of the Cubs order between righties and lefties, plus the switch-hitting Hartshorn is going to be really solid. Escobar launched his first Midwest League home run on Saturday, as part of the five-run 1st inning in the clinching game. Escobar is a guy that can definitely profile at the top of the lineup, if not for how deep this lineup card is. That’s why batting him sixth or seventh or eighth in the order can feel so good around playoff time. Back in 2022, it was the likes of Pablo Aliendo and the aforementioned Luis Verdugo at the bottom of the order that made South Bend’s lineup so dangerous. In 2019, Marcus Mastrobuoni and Levi Jordan made it really difficult for opposing pitchers in the playoffs to carve around the South Bend order. Escobar feels like the same type of deal as a guy that will hit towards the bottom, but has the effectiveness of a guy that can be at the top. We’ll see how it shakes out come September.

Schedule and Probables…

Tuesday, June 16 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Kevin Valdez vs. RHP Matthew Watson

Wednesday, June 17 - 7:05 PM ET: TBA vs. RHP Maikel Miralles

Thursday, June 18 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Jostin Florentino vs. RHP Carson Montgomery

Friday, June 19 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Koen Moreno vs. LHP Kash Mayfield

Saturday, June 20 - 6:35 PM ET: RHP Nazier Mulé vs. RHP Abraham Parra

Sunday, June 21 - 1:05 PM ET: TBA vs. LHP Jamie Hitt

Catch the entire six-game series in Fort Wayne on 96.1 FM and 960 AM Sports Radio WSBT, online at wsbtradio.com, or on MiLB.com with Brendan King and Tyler Reidy on the call.