Chicago Cubs vs. Philadelphia Phillies preview, Thursday 4/23, 1:20 CT

Thursday notes… WINNING AT HOME: The last time the Cubs swept a seven-game home stand was Aug. 6-13, 2015. They beat the Giants four times, outscoring them by 22-13, then beat the Brewers three times, by 18-7, for a combined 40-20. Then the Cubs won twice on the South Side, for a nine-game streak in

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Thursday notes…

WINNING AT HOME: The last time the Cubs swept a seven-game home stand was Aug. 6-13, 2015. They beat the Giants four times, outscoring them by 22-13, then beat the Brewers three times, by 18-7, for a combined 40-20. Then the Cubs won twice on the South Side, for a nine-game streak in Chicago, before losing, 3-1. Since then, they won the first six of seven on Aug. 23-28, 2018 (four vs. Reds, two vs. Mets followed by 10-3 loss) and won all six of a homes stand Sept. 27-Oct. 2, 2022 (three each vs. Phillies and Reds). (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

STREAKING: The Cubs’ current winning streak is their 59th since 1901 of at least eight games. Twenty-four ended at eight, including the most recent, July 21-29, 2023. The last of more than eight was 11 in a row, July 31-Aug. 12, 2016. That was the longest since the Cubs had won nine straight a year earlier, Aug. 6-15, 2015, then lost the 10th game. They had a nine-game streak May 26-June 3, 2008. That was their first that ended after nine since May 28-June 6, 1930. They have had 11 total nine-game streaks. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
COMING FROM BEHIND: The Cubs have trailed at some point in five of their eight straight wins. They were down by three runs, 3-0, in the second inning of the first win, at Philadelphia on April 14. The four other deficits were by one run: 1-0 in the first inning of the second win at Philadelphia; 1-0 in the second inning of the fourth win and the fifth inning of the sixth, both at home vs. the Mets; and 2-1 in the second inning last night. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
NO WALKS FOR YOU: Last night’s game was the Cubs’ 4,133rd since the start of 2000. It was their 231st — one of every 18! — in which they did not walk an opposing batter. It was the 69th of the 231 in which Cubs batters walked only once. Neither team has walked in 16 games since 2000, most recently on April 26, 2022, when the Cubs lost at Atlanta, 3-1. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

Cubs lineup:

Phillies lineup:

Edward Cabrera, RHP vs. Cristopher Sánchez, LHP

Edward Cabrera has been as advertised so far this year. His power changeup results in a lot of strikeouts — 17 in 22.2 innings. It also has led to a fair number of walks, 11, which is too many. Cut down on the walks and he can dominate.

One really good thing: He hasn’t allowed a home run yet this year.

Last year he made

two starts against the Phillies and allowed four runs in 10.2 innings, with four walks and eight strikeouts. Kyle Schwarber has homered twice off him, so… that would be something to try to prevent.

Cristopher Sánchez threw six innings against the Cubs April 13 in Philadelphia and allowed two runs. Dansby Swanson’s homer accounted for both of those runs.

Sánchez threw six innings and allowed one unearned run to the Braves last Saturday in Philadelphia. He was one of the top pitchers in MLB last year (8.0 bWAR, second in NL Cy Young voting) and his 2026 season has begun the same way. He will be tough to hit this afternoon.

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Here is the weather forecast for the area around Wrigley Field. The wind should be blowing out this afternoon.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. It’s also on MLB Network (outside the Cubs and Phillies market territories).

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).

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.