Saturday notes:

• YOUR FIRST-PLACE CUBS: With their 6-4 record, the Cubs begin today in first place by half a game over the Cardinals (4-3). Last year, the Cubs were not atop the division until April 29, after 29 games, when they were 18-11 and up by half a game. They lost the next day, slipping to second, and never led alone again. They were tied for the lead for four straight days, May 5-8. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• A MILESTONE IS HAPP-ENING: Ian Happ will play in his 1,000th career game today. He has spent his entire MLB career with the Cubs and will become the 32nd player in team history to reach 1,000 games. Since the start of divisional play in 1969, eight Cubs players have hit 1,000 games: Glenn Beckert (1971), Don Kessinger (1971), Ryne Sandberg (1988), Shawon Dunston (1994), Mark Grace (1994), Sammy Sosa (1999) Aramis Ramirez (2011) and Anthony Rizzo (2018).
• HOME OPENER HISTORY: With the win Friday, the Cubs improved to 86-62-2 all-time in 150 home openers and have won four straight home openers for the first time since 1950-53.
• AND A BIT OF SHŌTA: Shōta Imanaga posted a win in Friday’s home opener, becoming the first Cubs pitcher to record a win in consecutive home openers since Rick Sutcliffe (1988-89).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Padres lineup:

Matthew Boyd, LHP vs. Nick Pivetta, RHP

Matthew Boyd threw five shutout innings vs. the Diamondbacks in his Cubs debut last Sunday in Arizona. Unfortunately, he threw 92 pitches so he had to be lifted and… well, you know what happened.

Boyd has made 169 MLB starts. Exactly zero of them have been against the Padres. Current Padres are a small sample size 9-for-43 (.209) against him with one home run (Xander Bogaerts).

After five years in Boston, Nick Pivetta signed a four-year, $55 million deal (with opt-outs) with the Padres this past offseason.

His first start for them was a success, seven one-hit innings vs. the Braves March 30 in San Diego.

He hasn’t started against the Cubs since 2018, so that’s largely irrelevant. The only Cub who has more than a handful of at-bats against him is Dansby Swanson (8-for-30, .267, one home run). Justin Turner has homered twice off him.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. You can find out if Marquee is available via a provider in your area here.

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

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Padres site Gaslamp Ball. If you do go there to interact with Padres 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 2025 Game Thread procedure will be identical to last year’s.

You’ll find the game preview 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, including the First Pitch Thread and the overflow thread, as well as the recap when it’s published. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post.

You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread and the overflow thread in the box marked “Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at 90 minutes after the scheduled game time.

Discuss amongst yourselves.