Saturday notes…

• HANGING IN THERE WITH THE GOOD TEAMS: Four of the five teams that the Cubs have played so far this season lost yesterday. Yet those teams still are 54-25 when not playing the Cubs, a winning percentage of .684. Against the Cubs, the five teams (Athletics, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Padres and Rangers) are 9-13, .409 — a difference of 275 percentage points! (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• THE LAST TIME IT HAPPENED: The last time the Cubs gave up a 10-run inning and won was the first game of a doubleheader Sept. 26, 1912 against the Reds. The Cubs led 9-0 going to the ninth, gave up 10 runs in the top of the ninth, then walked it off with a pair of bases-loaded walks.
• PCA’s DAY: Pete Crow-Armstrong is on a six-game hitting streak in which he is batting .440/.462/1.040 (11-for-25) with four doubles, a triple and three home runs.
• RUNS AND RUNS AND RUNS: The Cubs lead MLB with 137 runs. No one else has scored more than 115. The Cubs have played more games than any other team, but they also lead MLB in runs per game at 6.23 (second: Diamondbacks, 5.75).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Diamondbacks lineup:

Ben Brown, RHP vs. Zac Gallen, RHP

Ben Brown threw exceptionally well in his last start, April 12 vs. the Dodgers: six shutout innings with no walks and five strikeouts.

He made one start vs. the D-backs last year and it was also a really good one, April 15, 2024 in Arizona: six innings, one hit, one run, four strikeouts.

Something just like one of those would be great.

The Cubs hit Zac Gallen pretty well March 27 at Chase Field: four runs in four innings, including a home run by Ian Happ.

Since then, Gallen has a 3.63 ERA and 1.269 WHIP in three starts covering 17⅓ innings, with 20 strikeouts.

Gallen is good. The Cubs will have to be good to hit him this afternoon.

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.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Diamondbacks site AZ Snakepit. If you do go there to interact with D-backs 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.