Before we get to the Astros, a note: The Cubs moved half a game ahead of the Cardinals into second place in the NL Central when St. Louis lost to Pittsburgh on Thursday.
The Astros started the year 6-3, but since then have gone 14-28. Only the Angels (13-28) are worse over that span.
So this could be a really good time for the Cubs to host them.
For more on the Astros, here’s Patrick Creighton, manager of our SB Nation Astros site The Crawfish Boxes.
Nothing has really gone right for the Astros this
season, and once again the primary culprit is injuries. Houston players have already had 22 IL stints this season, including long-term injuries to ace Hunter Brown, starter Cristian Javier, and SS/3B Carlos Correa with Correa being lost for the season. Closer Josh Hader has yet to pitch this season and the team has stated he will not be activated when eligible May 24.
Additionally, the team is also down franchise icon Jose Altuve, starting catcher Yainer Diaz, OF Joey Loperfido, and SP Lance McCullers Jr.
The Astros were planning on leaning on some young players like Loperfido (injured), Brice Matthews (.202 AVG, .609 OPS), Cam Smith (.206 AVG, .618 OPS) and Zach Cole (.186 AVG, .623 OPS), but none have risen to the occasion as yet.
Offseason acquisitions SP Mike Burrows (2-6, 5.75 ERA) and Tatsuya Imai (1-2, 8.31 ERA) have both struggled badly this season.
The Cubs, however, will see the three starters who have pitched the best for Houston: Spencer Arrighetti (5-1, 1.50 ERA), Kai-Wei Teng (2-3, 2.61 ERA) and Peter Lambert (2-4, 3.57 ERA).
Houston’s pitching is starting to normalize, as both RHP Bryan Abreu and RHP A.J. Blubaugh have started to find themselves after slow starts, while LHP Steven Okert has gotten his command in line lately as well. The addition of hard-throwing RHP Nate Pearson and rookie RHP Alimber Santa (4-2, 2 Sv, 1.42 ERA at Triple-A Sugar Land) should give the bullpen some of the swing-and-miss capability it has sorely lacked this season.
Offensively, the team really goes as DH Yordan Alvarez goes. Alvarez leads the team in most every major offensive category (AVG, OBP, OPS, SLG, H, R, 2B, HR, RBI, BB) and when he’s hot, the team scores. When he goes 0-for, it’s very hard for them to overcome currently. Jeremy Pena and Jake Meyers have just returned to the team a few days ago. Christian Walker (11 HR 31 RBI .255 AVG .819 OPS) has rebounded strongly from a subpar 2025, while Isaac Paredes is off to a slow start (.244 AVG, .711 OPS) after a big season last year.
So far this season, the Astros have not been able to match up effective pitching with timely hitting. After leading the AL in runs in April, the team’s offense has fallen flat in May. Since a 10-0 victory in Cincinnati May 8, Houston is 4-8 and has scored 23 runs (less than 2 runs per game).
The Astros offense has struggled with strike zone management, striking out at high rates and walking at low rates.
While the team still hopes to get hot once it gets healthy, the current roster has not been able to maintain any kind of momentum, resulting in swirling rumors about the job status of manager Joe Espada and GM Dana Brown.
Fun facts
The Cubs have lost 47 more games against the Astros than they have won, 385-338, but are 189-170 at Wrigley Field, including a three-game sweep when the teams met most recently on the North Side in April of 2024. Last year, the Cubs lost two of three in Texas.
This is just the third series between the teams at Wrigley since the Astros switched to the American League. The first was in 2013, their first season in the AL. The Cubs won two of three. In all interleague matchups, each team has won nine games.
(Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
Probable pitching matchups
Friday: Jameson Taillon, RHP (2-3, 4.97 ERA, 1.204 WHIP, 6.68 FIP) vs. Spencer Arrighetti, RHP (5-1, 1.50 ERA, 1.194 WHIP, 3.61 FIP)
Saturday: Colin Rea, RHP (4-2, 4.98 ERA, 1.426 WHIP, 4.09 FIP) vs. Kai-Wei Teng, RHP (2-3, 2.61 ERA, 1.097 WHIP, 3.79 FIP)
Sunday: TBD vs. Peter Lambert, RHP (2-4, 3.57 ERA, 1.075 WHIP, 3.31 FIP)
NOTE: Sunday should be Shōta Imanaga’s turn; for some reason the Cubs do not have him officially listed yet.
Times & TV channels
Friday: 1:20 p.m. CT, Apple TV (how to watch)
Saturday: 1:20 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network
Sunday: 1:20 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network
Prediction
The Astros seem a bit of a conundrum. If you look at the three starters for this series, you might wonder why they are 11 games under .500. Largely, it’s because their other starters have been pretty bad (overall 5.02 starter ERA) and the bullpen has been worse (5.72 ERA for relievers, and closer Bryan Abreu has been horrific, with an ERA over 8).
So the game plan here, I think, should be to get the Houston starters out of the game as early as possible.
The Cubs should right the ship by taking two of three here.
Up next
The Cubs travel to Pittsburgh for a four-game series against the Pirates beginning Monday afternoon.
