{"id":252438,"date":"2026-07-26T15:51:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T15:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/252438\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T15:51:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T15:51:46","slug":"chicago-cubs-vs-pittsburgh-pirates-preview-sunday-7-26-1235-ct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/252438\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates preview, Sunday 7\/26, 12:35 CT"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHAT A RELIEF: Cubs bullpen, last three games: 10 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 12 K, 0.91 ERA, 0.500 WHIP.WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY? Since June 10, the Cubs are 25-11, the best record in the NL and half a game behind the Red Sox (26-11) for the best record in MLB over that span.LOTS AND LOTS OF RUNS: The Cubs\u2019 11-run outburst Saturday gave them 534 runs for the season, or 5.13 per game. That is a pace for 832 runs, which would be their second-most since 1970 (855 in 2008 is their most in the last 56 years).TODAY IN CUBS HISTORY: The Cubs smash five home runs (Brian McRae, Sammy Sosa, Tyler Houston, Leo Gomez and Jose Hernandez) and crush the Rockies 17-4 at Coors Field<\/a>. It happened 30 years ago today, Friday, July 26, 1996. (NOTE: The 17-4 score was identical to the Cubs winning score that I cited in yesterday\u2019s \u201cToday in Cubs history\u201d item<\/a>, though many years apart.)<\/p>\n

Once again, neither team had a lineup available at the time this preview posted. Please check BCB social media for the lineups.<\/p>\n

Jameson Taillon, RHP vs. Braxton Crawford, RHP<\/p>\n

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Jameson Taillon has not had a good year. This, you know.<\/p>\n

His last start at PNC Park was kind of the epitome of his year \u2014 four runs in five innings, including two home runs, on May 27<\/a>. (The Cubs won the game anyway, 10-4.)<\/p>\n

All we can do is hope for better. He\u2019s been slightly better in day games (six starts, 4.63 ERA, nine HR in 35 innings) than night games (eight starts, 6.08 ERA, 13 HR in 37 innings), for whatever that\u2019s worth. Not that either of those sets of numbers is actually good, though.<\/p>\n

Braxton Ashcraft has started twice against the Cubs this year and done pretty well \u2014 1.59 ERA, 1.147 WHIP, 14 strikeouts in 11.1 innings.<\/p>\n

Since June 1, though, he\u2019s had a rough time of it: 6.05 ERA, 1.416 WHIP, nine home runs in 41.2 innings. He got absolutely pounded in his last start, July 20 vs. the Yankees<\/a>, for eight runs (seven earned) in three innings, including a pair of homers.<\/p>\n

Go get him, Cubs hitters.<\/p>\n

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Here is the weather forecast for the area around PNC Park.<\/a><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s game is on Marquee Sports Network.<\/p>\n

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.<\/a><\/p>\n

Baseball-reference.com game preview<\/a><\/p>\n

Please visit our SB Nation Pirates site Bucs Dugout<\/a>. If you do go there to interact with Pirates 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.<\/p>\n

The 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll find the game preview, like this one, posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).<\/p>\n

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled \u201cCubs vs. (Team) (Day of week\/date) game threads.\u201d It will contain every post related to that particular game.<\/p>\n

The Live! (formerly \u201cFirst Pitch\u201d) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.<\/p>\n

You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link<\/a>. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.<\/p>\n

Discuss amongst yourselves.<\/p>\n

Fewer adsCreate community posts<\/a>Comment on articles, community postsRec comments, community postsNew, improved notifications system!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WHAT A RELIEF: Cubs bullpen, last three games: 10 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[74015,73,75,74],"class_list":["post-252438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-chicago-cubs-game-information","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}