Blue Jays vs Cubs starts Friday at Wrigley Field with both clubs entering the three-game series short of the form they wanted. The matchup has draw anyway: all three games are already near-sellouts, and Blue Jays fans were expected to travel to Chicago again after following the team there in August 2024.
Friday’s Ben Brown-Kevin Gausman start
Ben Brown was scheduled to start Friday for The Cubs against Kevin Gausman at 1:20 p.m. CT, with the game on Marquee Sports Network and also streaming on Peacock outside the Cubs and Blue Jays market territories. That opener sets the tone for a weekend that begins fast and stays tight, because the rest of the series comes right back on Saturday and Sunday at the same start time.
The Blue Jays were 16-20 away from Toronto, while the Cubs were 7-8 in June. Those records frame why the series matters now: both teams were expected to be World Series contenders, but neither is arriving in top shape.
Tom Dakers on the Blue Jays
Tom Dakers, who runs the SB Nation Blue Jays site Bluebird Banter, put the club’s form bluntly: “What can I say about the Blue Jays? Well, they have been incredibly average.” He also pointed to the rotation as a strength, saying, “The starting pitching has been pretty good, other than Max Scherzer, whom you are unlucky enough to miss out on seeing.”
He added, “The team has been getting starting pitchers back from the IL, so we weren’t going the ‘bullpen days’ two times out of five.” Even with that help, the offense still carries a drag: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has only three home runs, and the Blue Jays have struggled with runners in scoring position.
Wrigley Field and the Blue Jays
The matchup is unusual at Wrigley Field. The Cubs had played only nine previous home games against the Blue Jays before this series, their fewest against any current big league team. Chicago has handled the matchup well so far, going 6-3 at Wrigley Field against Toronto before this weekend.
That history includes three straight series wins for The Cubs, along with a 2005 set in which they lost two of three, a 2017 sweep, and a 2024 series in which they won two of three but missed the sweep when they lost the finale 1-0. The recent pattern gives this weekend a clear edge: Chicago has already shown it can use Wrigley Field to press the matchup, and Toronto arrives needing better road results to stop that from continuing.
Colin Rea was scheduled to start Saturday for The Cubs against Patrick Corbin, and Shōta Imanaga was set for Monday against Dylan Cease. After Sunday’s 1:20 p.m. CT game, The Cubs head to New York for a four-game series against the Mets beginning Monday evening, so this home stand has a short clock and a direct next step.
