The Pirates opened a three-game series at Wrigley Field on Friday looking for something they had not found against the Cubs since September of 2024: a series win. Chicago had dominated Pittsburgh in 2025, winning 10 of the 13 meetings and outscoring the Pirates 54-26.
That history hung over this weekend’s pirates vs cubs series even with Pittsburgh entering 7-5 and carrying a sharper offense through its first 12 games of 2026. The Pirates had 12 home runs in those 12 games, tied for eighth in baseball, and their team numbers were far better than they were against Chicago last season, when they hit.182 with a.523 OPS. Brandon Lowe and Ryan O'Hearn had three home runs apiece, and Pittsburgh ranked tied for ninth in hits per game at 8.3, ninth in batting average at.247, sixth in on-base percentage at.338, eighth in slugging at.383 and seventh in OPS at.721.
They also brought a much stronger pitching staff to the start of 2026. The Pirates owned the sixth-best starters ERA at 2.87, third in the National League behind the Cubs at 2.72 and the Atlanta Braves at 2.79. But they were missing Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller against Chicago after both had pitched in the Padres series at PNC Park, forcing Carmen Mlodzinski into Friday’s start against Shota Imanaga. Mlodzinski had allowed two runs in each of his first two starts and had not pitched out of the fifth inning in either one.
For Chicago, the edge in the matchup was not subtle. The Cubs hit.256 against Pittsburgh’s pitching in 2025, put up a.740 OPS and launched 16 home runs, while the Pirates managed only five home runs against Chicago. That was the backdrop as the clubs met again at a ballpark that has been described as a house of horrors for Pittsburgh in recent years.
The next key checkpoint comes Saturday, when Braxton Ashcraft is scheduled to pitch against Edward Cabrera. Ashcraft posted a 2.71 ERA over 69.2 innings in 26 appearances and eight starts as a rookie, and he had worked six innings in each of his first two outings in 2026 while allowing two runs or fewer in both. Cabrera, meanwhile, had not allowed a run in 11.2 innings for Chicago since being traded from the Marlins, adding another layer to a series that already carried enough recent history to shape the mood before the first pitch.
If Pittsburgh wants to change the storyline, it has to do it now, not later. The numbers from 2025 were too lopsided to dismiss, and the first real test of whether the Pirates can carry their early-season offense and stronger rotation into a divisional grind began Friday night at Wrigley.
