Chicago Cubs vs. Philadelphia Phillies preview, Wednesday 6/11, 12:05 CT

The Cubs go for the series win.

Wednesday notes…

• SEE YOU NEXT YEAR (OR MAYBE IN OCTOBER): Today’s game will be the last of the regular season between the Cubs and Phillies. June 11 will be the fourth-earliest date they have met for the final time in a full season. The rivalry began in 1883. The earliest by far was on April 18, 2001, when they met in a doubleheader at Wrigley Field that was the fifth and sixth games against one another in 13 days. They finished up on May 17 in 2012 and on June 8 in 2016. In 1994, they played on June 6, then a strike wiped out a later scheduled series. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• NIGHT AND DAY: With their win last night, the Cubs have a .442 winning percentage in night games at Citizens Bank Park (19-24). That is their ninth highest under the lights at any of the 14 current National League parks. But they are just .381 at CBP in daylight (8-13), which ranks 12th, ahead only of .345 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis (19-36) and .333 at loanDepot Park in Miami (5-10). (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• THE BUSCH LEAGUE: Michael Busch, last 10 games since May 30: .344/.432/.844 (11-for-32) with two triples, four home runs, five walks and 10 RBI.
• HAPP-ENINGS: Ian Happ, last six games since June 5: .280/.357/.800 (7-for-25) with a double, four home runs and eight RBI.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Pete Crow-Armstrong gets his first day off this season (though I would not be surprised to see him pinch-hit late vs. a RH reliever, and play the last inning or two in CF).

Phillies lineup:

Ben Brown, RHP vs. Jesús Luzardo, LHP

Ben Brown was just outstanding in his last start Friday in Detroit. That came after a stellar outing against the Reds after Drew Pomeranz opened for him.

In sum, those last two outings: 13 innings, eight hits, two walks, two runs, 16 strikeouts.

That’s really good!

His start against the Phillies April 26 at Wrigley Field — not so good. Trust me, you do not want to look at that boxscore link. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Hoping for better things this afternoon.

Jesús Luzardo was going along just fine this year, with a 2.15 ERA after 11 starts that had some saying he could be the NL’s All-Star Game starter. That included six shutout innings against the Cubs as Brown’s opponent in that April 26 game.

Yikes. His last two starts against the Brewers and Blue Jays: 5⅔ innings, 21 hits and five walks (4.589 WHIP), 20 runs, all earned (31.76 ERA). That jumped his season ERA from 2.15 to 4.46.

The Cubs, as you know, have had trouble against lefthanded starters this year. Perhaps this will be the game where they break that trend.

Baseball Savant

Baseball Savant

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. You can find out if Marquee is available via a provider in your area here. It’s also on MLB Network (outside the Cubs and Phillies market territories).

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Phillies site The Good Phight. If you do go there to interact with Phillies 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.