Category: Sports News

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Chicago Cubs, April 11, 2026, 2:20 p.m. ET

Location: Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL

Broadcast: KDKA AM/FM, Sportsnet Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Pirates are on the road today against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field looking to grab a win.

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BD community, this is your thread for today’s game against the Cubs. Enjoy!

The suddenly slumping New York Yankees lost again on Friday night at Tropicana Field. The offense continues to come up short, and they just can’t buy a hit. We’re putting the bats to the side for a moment though to discuss Luis Gil and his first start of the season at the MLB level after struggling on Sunday in Triple-A. Skipped in his first time around because the Yankees only needed four starters through the first couple weeks, Gil’s in an important season, as the luster really faded from him last year after an AL Rookie of the Year win in 2024.

It’s safe to say things could have gone better on Friday. Four rocky innings of work and 88 pitches were the final tally, and to be completely honest, this was—for large stretches of his outing—2025 Gil all over again, struggling to throw strikes and to consistently generate swings and misses.

Gil allowed three runs on three hits and three walks in the four frames, striking out two. He also threw a wild pitch and hit a batter in the disappointing outing.

After struggling with velocity for much of the spring, Gil averaged 95.1 mph on his four-seamer on Friday against the Rays, down from the 95.3 mph of 2025 and a more impactful 96.6 the year before. This pitch was his bread and butter in 2024, when he won Rookie of the Year, but it just earned one swing-and-miss on 13 swings for a meager eight-percent whiff rate. For reference, the fastball earned an 18.8-percent whiff rate in 2025 and a 28.5-percent whiff rate in 2024.

For the night, Gil got just five empty swings: three on his slider, which he struggled to fully command, one on his changeup, and one on his four-seamer.

Gil threw 38 balls and 50 strikes on the night, but he was all over the place with all his pitches:

Gil opened the game trying to establish the four-seamer and complementing it mainly with sliders. He got two quick outs in the first inning before running into trouble, walking Jonathan Aranda and hanging this slider to Yandy Díaz, who gladly deposited it in the right field stands for a game-tying two-run dinger:

What looked like a quick and painless opening frame for Gil turned into a 32-pitch inning that set the tone for the rest of his outing and immediately capped his upside to go relatively deep into the game.

The second time through the lineup, Gil started to introduce more sinkers and changeups. The former actually helped him get five called strikes and led to a 57.9-mph average exit velocity in three batted-ball events, with just one of them going for a hit. One could argue that, with better command, the pitch could potentially be useful. It doesn’t look like a huge difference-making offering, though.

It’s hard to envision a successful Gil without better control, command, and velocity. Take away those three things, and his ceiling is severely capped.

It’s also important for him to maintain his velo deep into his outings. The pitch averaged 95.8 mph in the opening frame, and then slipped to 94.4 mph in the second, 93.8 mph in the third, and 94.4 mph again in the fourth. His sinker did average 96.6 mph in the third, though, but Gil just won’t be successful if he’s sitting in the 93-94 mph range.

Gil did make a nice defensive play on a squeeze play attempt by the Rays in the fourth, preventing another run from scoring. So at least his glove helped him out a little bit.

It’s still early. Heck, it’s Gil’s first start of the season. We are willing to grant him a pass, as we shouldn’t be judging a pitcher using just one outing. However, one thing needs to be said: given that this more of the same frustrating Gil, he will need to pick it up soon if he doesn’t want to be at serious risk of losing his rotation spot whenever Gerrit Cole or Carlos Rodón return. Unlike in the ALDS, he is fully behind Will Warren on the depth chart.

Detroit Tigers (5-9) vs. Miami Marlins (8-6)

Time/Place: 1:10 p.m., Comerica Park
Opponent Site: Fish On First
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: RHP Casey Mize (0-1, 5.23 ERA) vs. RHP Janson Junk (0-1, 3.09 ERA)

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We have a full slate of 15 MLB games to choose from today, which offers up lots of options when it comes to prop betting from the matinee matchups to the late-night finishes on the West Coast. 

Keep reading to see my best MLB player props for Saturday, April 11, highlighted by a plus-money Jackson Merrill play.

Best MLB player props today

Player	Pick	Odds
Kodai Senga	Over 6.5 Ks	-108
Trent Grisham	1+ runs	-120
Jackson Merrill	1+ RBI	+125

Kodai Senga Over 6.5 strikeouts (-108)

Kodai Senga has looked sharp in his return to the New York Mets' rotation after a 2025 marred by injuries. 

He's recorded 16 strikeouts in 11 2/3 innings over his first two starts, good for a rate of 12.3 per nine. That’s above his career mark of 10.2 per nine, and more like what Mets fans have expected after his outstanding rookie campaign in 2023.

The Athletics have been one of the more strikeout-heavy offenses in baseball early this season, racking up 133 Ks in their first 13 games. Senga should get plenty of swings and misses against this lineup, and that makes his strikeouts Over a great play.

• Time: 4:10 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: NBCSCA, SNY

Trent Grisham 1+ runs (-120)

While Trent Grisham has been struggling in some ways in the early going – his .158 batting average looks ugly on the Jumbotron – he’s been excelling at his most important job, which is getting on base at the top of the New York Yankees lineup.

Grisham has a .347 OBP and has scored seven times in 13 games to start the season.

Journeyman Nick Martinez has given the Tampa Bay Rays some good innings to start the year, but I don’t have confidence in the 35-year-old to keep up this start.

The Yankees have underperformed offensively, but those struggles have mostly come against southpaws, while they have a .720 OPS against righties. I like Grisham to get on base and the rest of the New York lineup to bring him home tonight.

• Time: 6:10 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: YES, Rays.TV

Jackson Merrill 1+ RBI (+125)

Jackson Merrill hasn’t gotten himself into a groove yet this season, but his numbers still benefit from hitting behind Fernando Tatis Jr. and in front of Manny Machado. Merrill has seven RBIs in his first 14 games despite hitting .189 in that span.

Merrill has been historically strong against right-handed pitching, putting up an .855 OPS against righties in his career. Colorado Rockies starter Ryan Feltner isn’t an imposing matchup in that regard either, with only 38 2/3 innings at the MLB level in the last two years and a 5.17 career ERA. 

Facing Feltner could get the San Diego Padres lineup going, and with Merrill in the middle of it all, I like him to pick up an RBI tonight.

• Time: 8:40 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: Rockies.TV, Padres.TV

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

Saturday notes…

• TWO IS USUALLY ENOUGH: The Cubs have allowed no more than two runs in eight of their 13 games, but have lost two of the eight, both by 2-0. Last year, they were 51-7 when giving up two or fewer runs, including 13-5 when giving up exactly two. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• SIX IS USUALLY ENOUGH: In yesterday’s loss, the Cubs made six hits and limited the Pirates to three. Before then, the Cubs had won all six previous games this season in which they had outhit their opponent. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• THE NICO FILES: Nico Hoerner has a 12-game on-base streak in which he is batting .357/.481/.571 (15-for-42) with six doubles, a home run, nine RBI and nine walks.
• GOOD STARTING: Cubs starting pitchers have a 2.47 ERA in the 13 games so far this year, which leads the NL and is second in MLB (Yankees, 2.40).

Cubs lineup:

The Pirates lineup was not available at posting time. Please check BCB social media for the Pirates lineup.

Edward Cabrera, RHP vs. Braxton Ashcraft, RHP

Edward Cabrera has not only been the Cubs’ best starter so far this year, he’s been one of the top starters anywhere in MLB, alllowing just eight of the 41 hitters he’s faced so far to reach base, no runs allowed and nine strikeouts in 11.2 innings. The only little glitch is six walks, and that was an issue for him in Miami, so hopefully it doesn’t become one here.

Cabrera hasn’t faced the Pirates since 2023, and the only current Pirate who has more than a couple of at-bats against him is Marcell Ozuna (2-for-11 with four strikeouts).

Braxton Ashcraft did pretty well in his rookie season last year — 2.71 ERA, 1.249 WHIP in 26 appearances (eight starts). This year he’s going to be a full-time member of the Pirates rotation and he has made two pretty good starts to date, completing six innings in both. In his last outing, April 5 vs. the Orioles, he struck out eight.

He made two starts against the Cubs last year (plus one relief appearance) and allowed four runs in 11 total innings, with 10 strikeouts. Michael Busch homered off him in one of those outings. Pete Crow-Armstrong is 3-for-4 with two doubles.

In case you were wondering, he is not related to Graham Ashcraft of the Reds. But the two families did look into it last year before figuring out that they are not related.

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 Pirates site Bucs Dugout. 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.

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).

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.

The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) 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.

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

Discuss amongst yourselves.