Hi there, new 2025 Cubs opponent!
The Cubs have spent the entire year to date, 26 games, traversing the two West divisions — 20 games against three NL West teams and six against two AL West teams.
Now, a team from the NL East arrives at Wrigley Field. The Phillies were supposed to be a strong contender, but entering this series they stand five games behind the first-place Mets in the East.
For more on the Phillies, here’s Ethan Witte, who runs our SB Nation Phillies site The Good Phight.
The Phillies go to Chicago struggling. They were swept out of New York by a Mets team playing quite a bit better than they were, but it’s the manner in which they’re losing. The bullpen has struggled mightily of late, with the middle relief options offering not much. Free agent signing Jordan Romano has been the biggest culprit, coughing up their lead on Wednesday against the Mets in extra innings.
But the struggles of the bullpen are masking some offensive issues the team has. The quartet of Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and Nick Castellanos went 5 for 46 against the Mets. On the season, the lack of power (22nd in MLB with 21 HR, 21st in SLG with a .381) has been concerning. They’ve chased less, which has been their biggest bugaboo the last few playoff games, but one has to wonder if that has taken away from the approach that had them successful in the first place. Likely, this is a bump in the road for the bats and maybe a weekend in Wrigley can get them back to their ways.
Fun facts
The Cubs have played 2,392 games against the Phillies, their third most against any team and most against a team not currently in the Central Division. The Cubs and Phillies were in the NL East together in 1969-93. The Cubs have a .524 winning percentage vs. the Phillies, second best among pre-expansion opponents to .541 vs. the Braves.
From 2011-15, the Cubs went 4-9 at home vs. the Phillies. In 2016-19, the Cubs went 10-4. In 2021-24, they went 5-8, with three of the wins coming in a sweep in 2022.
(Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
Probable pitching matchups
Friday: Colin Rea, RHP (0-0, 1.32 ERA, 1.098 WHIP, 1.49 FIP) vs. Taijuan Walker, RHP (1-1, 2.29 ERA, 1.169 WHIP, 4.25 FIP)
Saturday: Ben Brown, RHP (2-1, 4.57 ERA, 1.754 WHIP, 4.50 FIP) vs. Jesús Luzardo, LHP (2-0, 2.08 ERA, 1.088 WHIP, 1.77 FIP)
Sunday: Jameson Taillon, RHP (1-1, 4.73 ERA, 1.200 WHIP, 4.45 FIP) vs. Aaron Nola, RHP (0-5, 6.43 ERA, 1.607 WHIP, 4.88 FIP)
Times & TV channels
Friday: 1:20 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network, MLB Network (outside the Cubs and Phillies market territories)
Saturday: 3:05 p.m. CT, Fox-TV (regional — coverage map). A reminder that if you subscribe to MLB.TV or MLB Extra Innings, you can watch this game via those services even if it’s not on the Fox affiliate in your market.
Sunday: 6:10 p.m. CT, ESPN
Prediction
The Phillies have lost four straight and just got swept by the Mets in New York. They are 4-8 on the road this year in the early going. The Cubs have won four of five on the homestand so far. I think that’s enough for the Cubs to take two of three here.
Up next
The Cubs have Monday off, then travel to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates in a three-game series beginning Tuesday evening.
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