Chicago Cubs vs. New York Mets preview, Friday 4/17, 1:20 CT

Friday notes…

MEET THE METS: The Mets arrive with a 7-12 record. The Cubs have played only seven of 18 games against teams that had winning records going into the games. The have won three and lost four. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
BASEBALL IN SUNSHINE: The Cubs have hit 19 home runs this season. Eleven have come in day games. If they hit five this weekend in the three games against the Mets, their total in sunshine will reach 10,000 since 1901, first season of the Modern Era. They have hit 6,535 at home and 3,460 on the road. The Cubs have homered 4,426 times at night: 1,051 at home and 3,375 on the road. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
THE NICO FILES: Nico Hoerner, last 10 games since the second game of the doubleheader April 5 at Cleveland: .356/.408/.556 (16-for-45) with three doubles, two home runs, four walks, seven runs scored and 15 RBI.
RISPy BUSINESS: Over the last two games, the Cubs are 11-for-28 (.393) with 16 RBI with runners in scoring position, a huge improvement over their previous five games from April 8-13, in which the club went 10-for-58 (.172) with 13 RBI with RISP.

Cubs lineup:

Mets lineup:

Edward Cabrera, RHP vs. Kodai Senga, RHP

Edward Cabrera was really good his first two starts, not so much last time out against the Pirates. Even so, his outing last Sunday was decent.

As a former denizen of the NL East, Cabrera has faced the Mets a lot. Last year: two starts, nine innings, 10 hits, five runs (three earned), six walks, 11 strikeouts. Other than the walks, that’s not too bad. The only current Mets player who has more than a handful of at-bats against Cabrera is Francisco Lindor, and Cabrera has handled him pretty well: 3-for-18 (.167), but six walks.

Cut down on the walks, Edward, and you’ll be just fine.

Kodai Senga had two decent starts to begin 2026 and then got shelled by the A’s last Saturday: eight hits, seven runs, two home runs in just 2.1 innings.

Senga has not faced the Cubs since 2023 and I include this boxscore link to show you how much the Cubs have changed since then. No current Cub has more than six career at-bats against Senga.

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

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. It’s also on MLB Network (outside the Cubs and Mets market territories).

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Mets site Amazin’ Avenue. If you do go there to interact with Mets 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.