Toyota Road Report: August 25-30

As we prepare for the Midwest League Postseason, the regular season continues to dwindle down in anticipation of the first South Bend Cubs playoff appearance since 2022. We’ve reached the final six-game road trip of this season, with the Cubs heading back to Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium for the first time since May. The Cubs will face off one last time with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, as Wisconsin looks to keep its playoff hopes alive down to the final 12 regular season games in 2026.

South Bend just got done with a heck of a series victory against West Michigan. Despite losing two of the first three games, the Cubs rallied back to win on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, picking up one of their more impressive series victories of the season. West Michigan, who is the top team currently in the East Division, will hold just a half-game lead on the Great Lakes Loons when play picks up again on Tuesday. Both the West and East are turning into two-horse races down the stretch, as the West is now even between Beloit and Quad Cities.

At the start of this week, the Cubs will be 4.0 games back of that tie atop the West Division. And we will be scoreboard watching aplenty this week, with the Sky Carp and the River Bandits set to play each other this week in Davenport.

From a Timber Rattlers perspective, this is the last chance for Wisconsin to make a run at a late postseason push. The ‘Rattlers will host South Bend this week, and then take on Beloit on the road in the final regular season series. Their hope is that Beloit and QC beat up on each other, and that they can have success against the Cubs, then go to Beloit to steal the division. Of course, easier said than done. Especially when you look at what South Bend has done to Wisconsin this season.

This is the first Cubs trip to Appleton since South Bend had one of the best six-game series in franchise history back in May. South Bend took four of five games away from the ‘Rattlers, and scored a combined 74 runs in the series. Sunday’s game in that series was cancelled, but the Cubs still laid a beating on their West Division rivals. The last time these two saw each other, it was right after the All-Star Break, and South Bend took five games of six in that series. Simply put, in the first two series against each other this season, South Bend has had Wisconsin’s number. But coming up this week, nothing is guaranteed.

That is especially true considering even from July, the Cubs are a totally different team. At that point, the likes of Kane Kepley, Ty Southisene, and other key contributors from the first-half were on that roster. Kepley starred for the Cubs in Appleton back when the Cubs were here in May, but don’t forget about other big performers in that series like Matt Halbach, who had a career-high five hits and six RBI in a single game, as well as Justin Stransky, who launched a grand slam that week as well.

In 11 games against the ‘Rattlers this season, South Bend is hitting .305 as a team. That’s unbelievable. And even with some big names on the roster from the early season gone, plenty of guys still on this team have tasted success when playing the Milwaukee Brewers affiliate. Stransky is hitting .455 versus Wisconsin with two homers and 10 RBI. And having just been activated from the Injured List, Leonel Espinoza hit .409 with six RBI in five games against Wisconsin in May.

History is also on the line for the Cubs this week for young star Josiah Hartshorn. The Chicago Cubs number-one prospect hammered his 20th home run combined this season between Low-A Myrtle Beach and High-A South Bend this past weekend. The 20 bombs means Hartshorn is the first Chicago Cubs teenage prospect since Corey Patterson in 1999 to homer 20 times in a single Minor League season. The weekend home run was also his 15th in a South Bend uniform. That ties the South Bend Cubs single season record (since 2015) for homers along with Jordan Nwogu and Yonathan Perlaza. The next one by Hartshorn will set the new record.

A lot to look forward to this week, and the Cubs will look to put away a division rival, and then return home to South Bend at the start of September to try and build momentum for round one of the postseason.

Players to watch on South Bend…

Ethan Conrad, OF: The highly anticipated debut of the 2025 Chicago Cubs first-round pick Ethan Conrad came this past weekend at Four Winds Field. Conrad was promoted to South Bend early in the week, and after a few days of preparation, his High-A debut followed a few days later. Although the Saturday and Sunday first set of Midwest League games for Conrad did not feature a base-hit, all you have to do is take one look at this guy to know that when he starts putting together some good swings at this level, it’s going to be a show to watch. Conrad was knowingly drafted injured last summer by Chicago out of Wake Forest. After a separate injury kept him out until the middle of this season, Conrad is now healthy and ready to help the Cubs contend for a Midwest League Championship. Having watched him take batting practice this past week, it is such a sweet swing, almost effortless if you will, with the kind of power he produces. (He hit the scoreboard during BP and took out a panel of the video board, sorry guys). He left the Myrtle Beach Pelicans on a nine-game hitting streak. And in similar fashion, when he got to the Pelicans, it took Conrad a few days to figure out the new level. It’s going to be very similar here. Once Conrad adjusts to what he is seeing at this level, it is going to start being one after another for this guy. Don’t discount Conrad getting an opportunity to adjust to the High-A level before the playoffs start two weeks from now. That’s 12-ish games of at-bats, vision, and learning. The first round of the postseason could be absolutely incredible for this guy. Keep an eye on him especially this weekend in Appleton.

Angel Cepeda, INF: Let’s talk about the walk-off hero from Sunday! It’s such a joy to watch Angel Cepeda succeed while also being healthy. He just drew the short-end of the stick early in the season, as he was South Bend’s opening day shortstop, but a week-one injury took Cepeda out for a couple of months. Now, he’s healthy, and he’s going multiple months to get cooking again here at the High-A level. Cepeda doesn’t get nearly as much credit as he should with his defensive ability, but he has locked down the shortstop spot for South Bend ever since Ty Southisene got traded to Toronto. And he has played their nearly every day. Not easy to do while also being asked to hit at the top of the order. His walk-off hit on Sunday secured the series win for South Bend, but it showed a lot of growth in his approach at the plate as well. In something that is also not easy to do, Cepeda turned on an inside slider from Jalen Evans (who was a 27-year-old right-hander for West Michigan going against the 20-year-old Cepeda), and Angel lined that ball and pulled it to the left field corner. To get his hands in position to hammer that baseball and pull it was not a simple task. Especially against a guy seven years older than him. South Bend’s lineup depth is scary to think about when everyone is healthy. And Cepeda getting the chance to hit in the top-three has grown his confidence, but we’ve also seen him towards the six spot in the order too. A lot of options for Daniel Wasinger, as the next 12-games could really be a dress rehearsal for what that game one playoff lineup is going to look like.

Luis Rujano, RHP: With his fierce 98 mile-per-hour fastball, and wipeout slider, Luis Rujano has turned into one of the hottest throwing relievers in both the Midwest League, as well as the Cubs organization in the last month. Rujano was the benefactor of Cepeda’s game-winning base-hit on Sunday, and he earned the win because of that. But it was a quick-paced shutdown 1-2-3 top of the 9th inning that brought the Cubs up with the ability to win the game with just one run. Rujano, who was also with South Bend last season as a starting pitcher early in the campaign then as a reliever, has now developed into quite a late-inning shutdown option for the Cubs in the 9th inning. He now has a consecutive scoreless innings streak that is sitting at 12.1 straight shutout frames. His Midwest League ERA at 4.34 does not tell the tale whatsoever at how good this guy has been. That ERA is inflated thanks to two struggled filled outings that are just a mirage now. Rujano’s work the last month especially has helped solve a big need that every team needs for big games and a playoff run: A guy that can dominate in the late innings. That has been Rujano’s role lately. And if he takes this long dominant stretch towards the end of the regular season, you could be talking about getting to the point where he is going to be South Bend’s go-to closer for the playoffs.

Schedule and Probables…

Tuesday, August 25 - 7:40 PM ET: RHP Jostin Florentino vs RHP Josh Knoth

Wednesday, August 26 - 7:40 PM ET: RHP Brayden Spears vs RHP Ethan Dorchies

Thursday, August 27 - 7:40 PM ET: RHP Nazier Mulé vs LHP Wande Torres

Friday, August 28 - 7:40 PM ET: RHP Alfredo Romero vs RHP Jayden Dubanewicz

Saturday, August 29 - 7:40 PM ET: LHP Pierce Coppola vs RHP Jacob Morrison

Sunday, August 30 - 2:10 PM ET: RHP Anhuar Garcia vs RHP Josh Knoth

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