Toyota Road Report: May 19-24

After one of the greatest offensive series in South Bend Cubs history on the road in Wisconsin, the team’s 12-game road trip continues into its second week. The first place Cubs head north again, in a battle against the defending Midwest League Champions, the West Michigan Whitecaps.

Just an incredible week in Appleton against the Timber Rattlers. The South Bend Cubs flexed its muscle in what was the most crucial series to this point in the season, and they will enter Tuesday night in West Michigan a half-game up on Wisconsin for first place in the division. A big thank you as well to the Fort Wayne TinCaps and the Lansing Lugnuts. Our friends in the East Division both picked up wins on Sunday, over Cedar Rapids and Quad Cities respectively. So in total, the Cubs will be a game up on the Kernels to begin this week, 3.5 games up on both QC and Beloit, and 5.5 games past Peoria.

There is still quite a long way to go in this first half of the Midwest League, but things are looking up for the Cubs, who have the best run differential in the circuit at +82. This team has been nothing but a joy to cover so far, and a big thank you to Max Thoma for calling the Wisconsin series. The guy that called the 2022 Midwest League Championship brought the good vibes this week, and helped get us four wins, along with 25 and 24 runs respectively in two single games, the most runs the Cubs had scored in a game since they had 26 against Cedar Rapids in 2023.

South Bend heads to West Michigan in search of a little retribution. Of course, most of this Cubs roster was not with the team last April in 2025. However, a year ago in the first half, South Bend was swept in Comstock Park in six games. It was a very odd series. Of course, the Whitecaps were loaded with the likes of Max Clark and Josue Briceño. At the time, Kevin McGonigle was on the Injured List. But it was such a weird week because the Cubs held a lead in all six games played. Yet, the comeback minded Whitecaps mounted a battle back everyday and came back to win.

These are now totally different circumstances. Not just because the Cubs are playing much better this season, but also because West Michigan has suffered some major struggles in this first half. The Whitecaps dropped five of six games last week against Great Lakes, and lost five straight after winning the opener. However, before that, they had lost 14 straight games. In today’s age of Minor League Baseball, that is difficult to do. It featured back-to-back sweeps at the hands of Cedar Rapids and Dayton. Year-by-year in the Minor League Baseball is always a different experience, but with how dominant West Michigan was last season, losing just 39 total games, to this season, already having lost 26, it is staggering to see.

West Michigan is hitting .214 as a team, and just .185 as a squad in May. They do still have some pieces on their team that helped sweep the Cubs last year, including pitchers Carlos Lequerica, Carlos Marcano, and CJ Weins. Also, 2024 Tigers first-round pick Bryce Rainer is on West Michigan, he was taken 11th overall out of Harvard-Westlake in Los Angeles, California, which is where Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong played high school baseball, as well as South Bend infielder Drew Bowser.

So with all of that being said, what does South Bend need to do? Coming in with the expectation that they are going to score 20-plus runs in a game again is probably not realistic, but can they continue what they set in Wisconsin with how they competed? Absolutely. The top of the Cubs lineup with the likes of Kane Kepley, Ty Southisene, and Cameron Sisneros has been a nightmare for pitchers with how patient they are at the plate. After them, you have guys like Kade Snell, Cole Mathis, and Matt Halbach waiting. Then at the bottom of the order, the breakout of Christian Olivo along with the hot hitting Justin Stransky are primed to do damage as well. By the way, how about Matt Halbach with that five hit, six RBI performance on Thursday? Just the sixth South Bend Cubs player (since 2015) to have a six RBI game, and the second Cubs player to ever have a homer, five hits, and six RBI in a single game, joining Kevin Alcantara.

South Bend can put themselves in a great area this week with further success. They’ll return home a week from Tuesday with a six-game series against Fort Wayne, who has been one of the hottest teams in the Midwest League since a painful start. Fort Wayne took five of six games away from South Bend at the start of last homestand. Following that series, the Cubs will play their second crucial in-division road series, this time against Quad Cities, in the first week of June.

Players to watch on South Bend…

Kane Kepley, OF: What more is there to say about what Kane Kepley has done in a South Bend Cubs uniform? You get the sense that he can get the promotion to Double-A Knoxville at any time. But while he is still here, we are very lucky to have him. Especially after the generational performance that he put together this past week in Wisconsin. Kepley smashed his first Midwest League home run, went 14/25 at the plate, scored 14 runs, drove in 11 runs, and walked seven times. Of course, the Cubs statistics from Wisconsin are going to look absolutely ridiculous because of the 25 runs scored on Thursday, and 24 runs scored on Saturday. But they earned those crazy stat lines. It’s unlike we had ever seen in South Bend Cubs history. Kepley takes a 15-game on-base streak into this week’s series at West Michigan, and it’s the second time this season he has had an on-base streak of 12 games in a row or more. Kepley scored a career-high five runs on Thursday, and that first High-A homer came in the opener on Tuesday night. He is the best lead-off man in the Midwest League, and he continues to pace this South Bend Cubs lineup.

Justin Florentino, RHP: The newest addition to the South Bend Cubs rotation has made quite the strong impression in his first two outings. We have heard all about Jostin Florentino for the last year, and now that he has arrived to South Bend, the 2025 Chicago Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Year is off to a great start in High-A. Kind of funny, but Florentino was the last storyline that we probably took away from the Cubs 24-4 domination of the Timber Rattlers on Saturday. Because if there was a pitching story to talk about, it was the rehab vs rehab we saw with Wisconsin throwing Quinn Priester, and Caleb Thielbar making a rehab outing with the Cubs, tossing a shutout inning. Florentino set the tone that day for the Cubs though in his outing. Florentino worked four strong innings of one-run baseball, and struck out four batters. In his Midwest League debut, Florentino had a terrific first three innings at home against Lansing, displaying his nasty sweeper and keeping hitters off-balanced. The Cubs picking up Florentino at this point in the season reminds me a little bit of when the Cubs shipped Jordan Wicks to Double-A Tennessee at the time in 2022, and received Luis Devers. DJ Herz had also just left the Cubs, and South Bend received Porter Hodge with Myrtle Beach. Brooks Caple, arguably South Bend’s best pitcher to begin the year, went to Knoxville, and Florentino arrived to South Bend. Florentino has a little bit of Devers to his arsenal. Plus, they each have been a Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Neither throws overly hard, but they keep hitters off-balanced with their off-speed stuff. And if Florentino ends up looking anything like Devers did back in 2022, he is quickly going to become the Cubs ace.

Cameron Sisneros, INF: As referenced earlier with the top of the Cubs lineup featuring Kepley, Southisene, and Sisneros nearly everyday, if I’m a pitcher, I am going to get extremely frustrated facing those three, and then having to greet the power in the middle of the Cubs order. What makes Sisneros special is his ability to have that keen eye at the plate, all while having the similar power of a Snell, Mathis, or Halbach. Sisneros made the adjustment earlier in the year of holding his bat closer to his left ear near his blue helmet, as well as closing his batting stance just partially. That has allowed him to get the the ball quicker, and his swings have been gorgeous, especially over the last month’s time. After a 5/17 series that featured a home run, five runs scored eight RBI, and six walks, Sisneros continues to pack those types of lines every series. He walked eight times in the Lansing series, and like Kepley, takes a 15-game on-base streak into this next series at West Michigan. He knows what he is doing when it comes to streaks as well, remember, this is a guy who had a 79 game on-base streak to close his collegiate career at East Tennessee State. Yes, 79.

Schedule and Probables…

Tuesday, May 19 - 6:05 PM ET: RHP Nazier Mulé vs. RHP Hayden Minton

Wednesday, May 20 - 11:00 AM ET: RHP Alfredo Romero vs. LHP Ben Jacobs

Thursday, May 21 - 6:35 PM ET: LHP Ethan Flanagan vs. RHP Lucas Elissalt

Friday, May 22 - 6:35 PM ET: LHP Cole Reynolds vs. RHP Carlos Marcano

Saturday, May 23 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Jostin Florentino vs. RHP Rayner Castillo

Sunday, May 24 - 6:35 PM ET: RHP Koen Moreno vs. LHP Gabriel Reyes

Catch the entire six-game series in Comstock Park, Michigan 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.