The Cubs (22-16) dropped two of three to a talented Giants squad at Wrigley Field this week. Chicago is just about to finish the brutal slate of matchups against some of the best teams in baseball that dominated the first 40 games of their 2025 season. Their final test is three at Citi Field against the first-place Mets starting Friday night.

New York (24-14) came flying out of the gate after a very splashy offseason with an 18-7 record through the first 25 games of the season, but the Mets have gone 6-7 since. That is still good enough for a 1.5 game lead over the second-place Phillies in the NL East.

The Mets have a team OPS of .751, which is the seventh highest in baseball. Juan Soto is off to a nice start after signing a 15-year mega contract this winter with seven homers and a 144 wRC+ that would be the second-worst of his career. A far more surprising development is the unbelievable start first baseman Pete Alonso is off to. The Polar Bear has nine dingers and a very impressive 1.085 OPS.

The Metropolitans have the best pitching in baseball with an MLB-leading 2.89 staff ERA. The starting rotation has a 2.71 ERA and is led by Kodai Senga, the Japanese ace that the Cubs will thankfully avoid in this series. Former Yankees closer Clay Holmes has converted to a starting role quite well with a 2.95 ERA in seven starts.

Edwin Díaz has been mostly effective at the back end of a Mets bullpen that has performed well through the first month-plus of the season. New York has been terrific at Citi Field with a 13-3 home record, so it’s going to take a better effort from the Cubs than what we saw in their last series.

It doesn’t help that the Cubs haven’t traditionally performed very well at Citi Field. The schedule gets significantly lighter after this, at least on paper, and the Cubs are in excellent position to make a playoff run. Let’s see if they can put an exclamation point on this tough opening stretch with a little noise in the Big Apple.

Game Time and Broadcast Info

Friday, May 9 at 6:10pm CT on MLB Network and Marquee.Saturday, May 10 at 6:15pm CT on FOX.Sunday, May 11 at 11:05am CT on Roku.

Starting Pitchers

What to Watch For