Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates preview, Sunday 4/12, 1:20 CT

Today’s roster move: Here Sunday notes… NOT WINNING THE CLOSE ONES: The Cubs are 1-2 so far in games decided by one run. Last year, they finished 25-19, making 2025 the first full season they had a winning record in such games since 2018, when they were 26-25. They were 10-9 in the 60-game 2020 seas

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What is the story about?

Today’s roster move: Here

Sunday notes…

NOT WINNING THE CLOSE ONES: The Cubs are 1-2 so far in games decided by one run. Last year, they finished 25-19, making 2025 the first full season they had a winning record in such games since 2018, when they were 26-25. They were 10-9 in the 60-game 2020 season. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
THROW THOSE GUYS OUT, PLEASE: The Pirates stole four bases yesterday. They were the first team with four thefts against the Cubs since the Nationals did it at Wrigley Field on Sept. 19, 2024. The Cubs won that game, 7-6. Yesterday’s game was the Cubs’ 184th game since then. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

STILL GOOD AGAINST PITTSBURGH: The Cubs are 113-70 (.617) vs. the Pirates since the start of the 2015 campaign, their best record vs. an NL opponent.
MAYBE TRY THIS: Since the beginning of last season, the Cubs are an MLB-best 72-21 (.774) when scoring the first run of the game. They have scored the game’s first run in 10 of their 14 games this season and are 7-3 in those games.

Cubs lineup:

The Pirates lineup was not available at posting time. Please check BCB social media for the Pirates lineup.

Jameson Taillon, RHP vs. Bubba Chandler, RHP

A long time ago (16 years, to be exact) Jameson Taillon was the Pirates’ No. 1 pick (second overall) out of high school in Florida. He pitched four years for them before moving on to the Yankees, and then the Cubs.

Taillon’s numbers this year look decent (2.53 ERA,

1.219 WHIP) but he struggled in his first start (even though it ended up scoreless), then threw a bit better in completing six innings his second time out.

He threw well against the Pirates last year, six hits and two runs in 12.1 innings. Overall current Pirates are batting .233 (24-for-103) against Taillon with one home run (Bryan Reynolds).

Bubba Chandler made his MLB debut last year and posted a 4.02 ERA in seven games (four starts). This year in two starts for the Pirates he has posted a 3.12 ERA, which isn’t terrible but this is: He’s leading the NL in walks allowed with 10 in just 8.2 innings. Oddly, walks were not an issue with him in his 31.1 MLB innings last year — just four of them. Chandler throws hard, as you can see by the chart below, but doesn’t always know where the ball is going.

So maybe Cubs hitters, who are generally patient, can work some walks. Chandler has never faced the Cubs and the only Cub who has faced him is Michael Conforto (o-for-2).

In case you were wondering, Bubba’s actualy given name is Roy. The last players named “Roy” in MLB were Roy Oswalt and Roy Halladay, whose careers both ended after 2013.

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Here is the weather forecast for the area around Wrigley Field.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network.

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Pirates site Bucs Dugout. If you do go there to interact with Pirates fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

The 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.

You’ll find the game preview, like this one, posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game.

The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.

You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.