Today’s roster move: Here
Monday notes…
THE DIFFERENTIAL IS DROPPING: Sunday’s 6-2 loss at New York dropped the Cubs’ run differential to +50, 233 scored to 183 allowed. That is the lowest it has been since it was +47 after a 4-3 loss at Pittsburgh on April 30. It peaked at +69 last Monday, following a 9-2 win at home over the Giants. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
THE SCHEDULE REALLY HAS BEEN TOUGH: From Sahadev Sharma at The Athletic: “Entering play Sunday, Cubs opponents had a .555 winning percentage, nearly 30 percentage points higher than the second team on the strength-of-schedule list. That’s a larger gap than the second and 18th teams on the list.”
MOVING UP THE CIRCLE OF TRUST: Daniel Palencia, last seven games since April 23: 0.00 ERA, 0.714 WHIP, eight strikeouts in seven innings.
CUBS vs. MARLINS: The Cubs are 119-112 all-time vs. Miami, including 65-54 at Wrigley Field. Last year the Cubs split a four-game series against the Marlins at Wrigley and took two of three in Miami.
ONE YEAR AGO TODAY: The Cubs scored three in the 10th and held off a Pirates rally to win 5-4 at PNC Park. Adbert Alzolay recorded a save in what turned out to be his last game as a Cub.
Here are today’s particulars.
Cubs lineup:
Marlins lineup:
Colin Rea, RHP vs. Cal Quantrill, RHP
Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images
Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
Colin Rea wasn’t quite as sharp against the Giants in his last outing as he had been previously, but still did pretty well against a good team (five innings, four runs).
He did not face the Marlins last year and only three current Marlins have ever faced him, for a total of six plate appearances. So perhaps the newness will help Rea tonight.
Cal Quantrill was the Padres’ No. 1 pick (eighth overall) in 2016, but has never lived up to that draft level.
He had a mediocre year in 2024 with the Rockies (4.98 ERA, 1.5 bWAR) and signed with the Marlins as a free agent.
The results haven’t been good, though he did hold the Dodgers to one run in five innings in his last outing May 6. Most of the rest of his starts have been pretty bad. Here’s hoping for more “bad” tonight.
Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. You can find out if Marquee is available via a provider in your area here.
Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit the Marlins site Fish On First. If you do go there to interact with Marlins 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 2025 Game Thread procedure will be identical to last year’s.
You’ll find the game preview 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, including the First Pitch Thread and the overflow thread, as well as the recap when it’s published. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post.
You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread and the overflow thread in the box marked “Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.
The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at 90 minutes after the scheduled game time.
Discuss amongst yourselves.