Cubs announce 26-man Opening Day roster

Here are the 26 men who will line up on the third-base line at Wrigley Field Thursday afternoon before the Cubs’ season opener against the Nationals. Most of these were well-known before; a few were added over the last couple of days. All groups are listed in alphabetical order, except for the starting pitchers, who I have listed in the rotation order where I believe they will begin the season.

Catchers (2) Miguel Amaya, Carson Kelly Infielders (5) Alex Bregman, Michael Busch, Nico Hoerner, Scott Kingery, Dansby Swanson Outfielders (5) Dylan Carlson, Michael Conforto, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ian Happ, Matt Shaw Designated hitter (1) Moisés Ballesteros Starting pitchers (5) Matthew Boyd, Cade Horton, Shōta Imanaga, Edward Cabrera, Jameson Taillon Relief pitchers (8) Ben Brown, Hunter Harvey, Phil Maton, Hoby Milner, Daniel Palencia, Colin Rea, Caleb Thielbar, Jacob Webb Of these 26 men, nine (Bregman, Cabrera, Carlson, Conforto, Harvey, Kingery, Maton, Milner and Webb) were not in the Cubs organization last year. Three others (Ballesteros, Horton, Palencia) were not on last year’s Opening Day roster. Three of these players (Carlson, Conforto and Kingery) were non-roster invitees to Spring Training.

As such, three players had to be removed from the 40-man roster to make room for them. Those moves began late Tuesday when Tyler Austin was placed on the 60-day injured list and Carlson was added. It’s entirely possible Austin will never play for the Cubs.

Here are the other two 40-man roster moves to add Conforto and Kingery: Justin Steele was placed on the 60-day injured list. That would target a late May or early June return. Right-handed reliever Jack Neely was designated for assignment.