Chicago Cubs vs Pittsburgh Pirates – Series Preview (June 12-15): Overview, Game and Broadcast Info, Starting Pitchers, W2W4
The Cubs (41-27) are back at Wrigley after a nine-game road trip in which they posted a 4-5 record. They dropped one series apiece to a pair of talented teams, the Tigers and Phillies, and took on several of the best pitchers in baseball. Now they return home to face off against the division-rival Pirates in a four-game set beginning Thursday night.
Pittsburgh (28-41) is playing its best baseball of the season, having won five of the last six games, but they are still way off the pace in the National League Central. The pitching staff has been pretty good so far in 2025 with a 3.79 team ERA. The headliner is obviously Paul Skenes, who is having a tremendous season with a 1.88 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 91 innings.
The rest of the rotation is also doing well, with Andrew Heaney and Bailey Falter having strong seasons. The Pirates’ bullpen has been a little less effective with a 4.14 ERA, but closer David Bednar has been mostly productive.
The offense for the Bucs has been just dreadful so far, with a team OPS of .650 and just 49 total home runs. The one truly dangerous player in the lineup is Oneil Cruz, who has 13 homers and an .820 OPS to lead the team. Andrew McCutchen is also having a decent year and is very strong against lefties.
If the Cubs can score runs, they have a very good chance to take care of business in this series. The Cardinals and Brewers failed to gain ground when the North Siders were battling on the road, so this is a good chance to build more of a lead with those two teams going head-to-head this weekend.
Game Time and Broadcast Info
- Thursday, June 12 at 7:05pm CT on Marquee.
- Friday, June 13 at 1:20pm CT on MLB Network and Marquee.
- Saturday, June 14 at 1:20pm CT on Marquee.
- Sunday, June 15 at 1:20pm CT on Marquee.
Starting Pitchers
| Date | Pitcher | Age | T | ERA | W/L | FIP | K/BB |
| 6/12 | Jameson Taillon | 33 | R | 3.54 | 6-3 | 4.83 | 4.14 |
| Andrew Heaney | 34 | L | 3.24 | 3-4 | 4.37 | 2.17 | |
| 6/13 | Cade Horton | 23 | R | 4.11 | 3-1 | 4.02 | 3.57 |
| Paul Skenes | 23 | R | 1.88 | 4–6 | 2.49 | 4.60 | |
| 6/14 | Matthew Boyd | 34 | L | 2.89 | 5-3 | 3.52 | 3.89 |
| Mike Burrows | 25 | R | 5.00 | 1–1 | 5.41 | 2.43 | |
| 6/15 | Colin Rea | 34 | R | 3.92 | 4-2 | 4.33 | 2.82 |
| Mitch Keller | 29 | R | 4.15 | 1-9 | 3.32 | 3.25 |
What to Watch For
- Ian Happ had three home runs and a double against the Phillies.
- Nico Hoerner has four hits in his last two games.
- Boyd has allowed just five runs in his last 19.1 innings.
- The Cubs won two of three from the Pirates in Pittsburgh at the start of May.
