Chicago Cubs vs. San Diego Padres preview, Wednesday 7/1, 1:20 CT

Wednesday notes… WRAPPING UP JUNE: The Cubs were 16-10 in June, for a winning percentage of .615. That was their highest percentage in any June since 1992, when they were 18-10, .643. They were better than .615 in only six more of the past 80 seasons: .677 (21-10) in 1967; .621 (18-11) in 1969; .667

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Wednesday notes…

WRAPPING UP JUNE: The Cubs were 16-10 in June, for a winning percentage of .615. That was their highest percentage in any June since 1992, when they were 18-10, .643. They were better than .615 in only six more of the past 80 seasons: .677 (21-10) in 1967; .621 (18-11) in 1969; .667 (18-9) in 1971; .704 (19-8) in 1977; .667 (16-8) in 1979; .621 (18-11) in 1983. They were better in 28 seasons from 1876-1946. They were .607 in 1972 and 2007 (17-11). (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

STREAKING: A win today would give the Cubs their third-longest winning streak of the season, four games, behind their pair of 10-game streaks. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
COMPLETING SWEEPS: The Cubs have a shot at their 18th sweep of the Padres at Wrigley Field since the rivalry began in 1969, but only their fourth in 27 series on the North Side since 2000. The Cubs won all three games in 2009, 2012 and 2021. This season, the Cubs won the first two games of six previous series. They completed sweeps in five of them, including two of four games. The only third-game loss was at San Francisco. At home, they swept the Mets, Phillies and Reds. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
PCA’S JUNE: Pete Crow-Armstrong’s case for Player of the Month: 26 games, .381/.468/.781 (40-for-105) with five doubles, two triples, 11 home runs, 20 RBI, 17 walks, 21 runs scored and eight stolen bases.

Cubs lineup:

Padres lineup:

Colin Rea, RHP vs. Walker Buehler, RHP

Colin Rea had a rough patch in early June but his last two starts, against the Blue Jays and Mets, have been very good – 10.1 total innings, one earned run.

Hopefully he can continue that tonight vs. the Padres, who he has not faced this year.

Rea has been much better at Wrigley Field (2.61 ERA in seven games, six

starts) than on the road (6.60 ERA in 10 games, seven starts). Hopefully, that will come into play in this afternoon’s contest.

Walker Buehler was a free agent before 2026. He’s making just $1.5 million this year with the Padres. Coming off two pretty bad years, you can understand why teams weren’t interested.

He’s been very good this year in San Diego – 3.81 ERA and 1.308 WHIP, a 1.3 bWAR season so far. When he faced the Cubs April 28 in San Diego, he was struggling and allowed three hits, three walks and two runs in 4.2 innings, throwing 92 pitches.

Over his last nine starts: 2.64 ERA, 1.175 WHIP, 41 strikeouts in 47.2 innings. He’s not quite the guy he was with the Dodgers, but that’s really good. He turns 32 in a few weeks and if he keeps this up he’ll be a desirable free agent this offseason.

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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

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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).

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Discuss amongst yourselves.