Chicago Cubs vs. Arizona Diamondbacks preview, Friday 5/1, 1:20 CT

Friday notes…

STREAKING: The Cubs have won eight straight home games, the entire last seven-game homestand and the last game of the previous one. The last time a Cubs team won eight straight at home was Sept. 12-30, 2017. That streak was snapped when they lost to the Reds, 3-1, on the final day of the season, and all but one of their starters were lifted after one or two plate appearances. The last time any Cubs team won nine straight home games was Aug. 18-Sept. 2, 2017. The franchise record is 18, set during the team’s overall team record 21-game winning streak in 1935 (the first 18 of those 21 straight wins). (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
SCORING FIRST: The Cubs are 7-0 when they have scored first at home. They are 12-5 in all games in which they scored first. In 14 of the 17 games, they did so in the first three innings: four in the first, seven in the second and three in the third. Last year, the Cubs were 33-8 at home when they scored first and 17-23 when they did not. They won 15 straight when they scored first at home from May 5 through July 19. They had two nine-game winning streaks when they scored first on the road. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
GETTING ON BASE: The Cubs are first among all 30 teams in on-base percentage, at .353. The Diamondbacks are 27th, at .308. The only teams lower are the Phillies, .302; Giants, .293; and Mets, .289. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
HIT PREVENTION: The Cubs are tied for fifth in fewest hits allowed per nine innings, at 7.6. The Diamondbacks are tied with two teams for 25th at 9.1. The only teams worse are the Nationals, 9.2; Orioles, 9.3; and Phillies, 10.1. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
TODAY IN CUBS HISTORY: Andre Dawson and Hector Villanueva homered off future Cubs broadcaster Jim Deshaies as part of a five-run first inning and the Cubs went on to defeat the Astros 11-8 at Wrigley Field. It happened 35 years ago today, Wednesday, May 1, 1991.

Cubs lineup:

Diamondbacks lineup:

Colin Rea, RHP vs. Zac Gallen, RHP

Colin Rea was going along just fine when the Dodgers torched him pretty good over the weekend.

That out of the way, Rea has been solid this year (and was last year, too). I don’t think one bad start erases all the good things Rea has done for the Cubs rotation.

Rea started vs. Arizona April 18, 2025 at Wrigley Field and allowed one run in 4.2 innings with five strikeouts, probably on a pitch limit (threw 69 nice pitches). That was the crazy game where the D-backs scored 10 runs in the eighth but the Cubs came back and won anyway.

Ketel Marte is 4-for-6 with two homers off Rea, so it might be good to hold him down today.

Remember when Bob Nightengale said Zac Gallen was going to sign with the Cubs? According to this Awful Announcing article, here’s what happened in the Gallen household after Nightengale made that social media post:

“So I was sitting there at breakfast with my dad,” Gallen told MLBFits. “A family friend of ours came over, and he’s like, ‘Oh nice, you’re going to Chicago,’ and I was like, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ So there was a hectic kind of 20 minutes or so there. I was getting calls from family, and then from my now-wife, was like ‘We’re going to Chicago?’ I’m like, ‘No, I would let you know if we’re going to Chicago.’”

Gallen and his wife actually got married the weekend after that news broke (and un-broke), which only amplifies how wild that report must have seemed in the moment.

So that must have been fun!

Anyway, as you obviously know, Gallen re-upped with the D-backs and has had a pretty good year so far: 3.14 ERA, 1.360 WHIP in six starts. His K rate is down a bit, but otherwise he’s showing that last year was an aberration in an otherwise fine career.

The last time he faced the Cubs, April 19, 2025 at Wrigley Field, they hit him pretty hard (seven hits, six runs in six innings), including home runs by Seiya Suzuki and Michael Busch.

Here is the weather forecast for the area around Wrigley Field.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network.

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 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.

You’ll 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).

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Discuss amongst yourselves.