Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates preview, Saturday 7/25, 5:40 CT

Saturday notes… MILESTONE INCOMIMG: A win today will be the Cubs’ 600th at Pittsburgh since the rivalry with the Pirates began in 1887, when “Allegheny City” jumped to the National League after five seasons in the rival American Association. The Cubs have won more games at Pittsburgh than at any oth

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Saturday notes…

MILESTONE INCOMIMG: A win today will be the Cubs’ 600th at Pittsburgh since the rivalry with the Pirates began in 1887, when “Allegheny City” jumped to the National League after five seasons in the rival American Association. The Cubs have won more games at Pittsburgh than at any other city. Philadelphia is second, with 579. The Cubs have lost more games at Pittsburgh, 714, than anywhere else. St. Louis is second, with 677. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

DEFEATING THE WINNERS: Last night’s game was the Cubs’ first in 13 against an opponent that took a winning record into the game. They had gone 7-5 in the 12 vs. teams at .500 or below. Based on current records, the Cubs’ next 12 games all could be against clubs with more wins than losses. The Cubs are 25-21 against such teams and 33-24 vs. all others. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
DIVISION RIVALS: Last night’s win raised the Cubs’ record against their Central Division rivals above .500, at 14-13. The Pirates are 17-13 within the division; the Brewers, 19-10; and the Cardinals, 15-14. The Reds are 7-22. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
TODAY IN CUBS HISTORY: The Cubs pounded out 19 hits, including a home run and four RBI from Augie Galan, and crushed the Phillies 17-4 in Philadelphia. They led the NL by three games. It happened 90 years ago today, Saturday, July 25, 1936.

Neither team’s lineup was available at posting time. Please check BCB social media for the lineups.

Shōta Imanaga, LHP vs. Paul Skenes, RHP

Shōta Imanaga continued his good stretch of starts his last time out with seven shutout innings against the Twins last Sunday at Wrigley Field. Over his last seven: 2.31 ERA, 1.179 WHIP, only five home runs in 39 innings.

Imanaga threw six no-hit innings against the Pirates April 10 at Wrigley Field. In fact, the Pirates are the team against whom he’s had his most success: Five starts,

32 innings, 0.28 (!) ERA (one earned run), seven walks, 32 strikeouts. And he will need that because his opponent is…

Paul Skenes, who’s done very well against the Cubs in his career — 2.77 ERA, 53 strikeouts in 39 innings.

This year’s Skenes, though, is not like the last couple of years. After getting off to a great start, Skenes has a 4.55 ERA and 1.347 WHIP over his last 12 starts covering 65.1 innings. He’s still striking out guys — 82 in those 12 starts — but teams are finding ways to score.

One of those starts was May 28 at PNC Park. The Cubs scored three runs (one earned) off him in 5.1 innings, really running up his pitch count (103). That seems to be a way to beat him, so do it again.

Also, his four-seamer velocity is down a bit this year. As you see in the chart below, it’s at 96.9 this year — last year it was at 98.2. That might be enough to make the difference.

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Here is the weather forecast for the area around PNC Park.

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.