(Photo credit: Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images)

It's not often the Cubs are looking up at the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League Central standings, but that's the case ahead of Friday's series opener in Chicago.

It's a little early to pay attention to a division race as the Cubs look to win their fifth consecutive series over Pittsburgh. Chicago enters the three-game set winners of back-to-back games over the Tampa Bay Rays, scoring 15 runs across the pair of convincing victories.

Manager Craig Counsell's club is batting just .223 through 12 contests but is averaging six runs the last four games. A recent bright spot has been veteran Michael Conforto. After agreeing to a minor league deal in February, the 33-year-old got off to a 1-for-9 start to his Cubs' tenure, before producing three hits and three RBIs the last two games at Tampa Bay.

'It's an important development,' Counsell said of Conforto's encouraging series. 'Adding another position player and another left-handed bat that we can mix and match based on pitching matchups is going to make us more successful and make us more offensive as the year goes on.'

Chicago's starting pitching staff boasts a 2.72 ERA -- a trend Shota Imanaga (0-1, 4.50 ERA) hopes to continue on Friday afternoon. Last time out, Imanaga earned a no-decision, throwing five innings of three-hit, one-run ball against the Cleveland Guardians. The Cubs lost 6-5.

The 32-year-old lefty has dominated Pittsburgh in four career starts, going 2-0 with a 0.35 ERA. Imanaga has allowed just one earned run in 26 innings against the Pirates.

Although a small sample size, the Pirates have already given their fans reason to be excited for 2026. Despite dropping two of three this week to the San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh ranks in the top 10 in the majors in both ERA (3.33) and batting average (.247).

An area manager Don Kelly wants to see cleaned up ahead of Friday is the team's fielding. The Pirates committed three errors in Wednesday's 8-2 loss to San Diego.

'We didn't play clean baseball,' Kelly said. 'It's something that we have to do going forward. Making the outs we need to make. ... We've got a big series coming up against Chicago, and going into that, I want us to remember the times that we've played really good. We need to clean up some things, but we've been playing really good baseball overall.'

Carmen Mlodzinski (0-0, 4.00 ERA) will vie for his first win of the young season, following a pair of high swing-and-miss starts. Mlodzinski has struck out 13 batters in nine innings but hasn't completed five frames in either of his appearances.

The right-hander allowed two runs on five hits, striking out five in 4 2/3 innings against the Baltimore Orioles last Saturday -- a game Pittsburgh won 3-2.

Mlodzinski has faced Chicago nine times (two starts), compiling a 1.77 ERA against the division foe.

Rookie second baseman Nick Yorke went 3-for-3 on Wednesday and leads the Pirates with a .381 batting average, while offseason addition Ryan O'Hearn is hitting .350 with three homers and 11 runs driven in.

Pittsburgh is searching for its first series win over the Cubs since taking two of three from Sept. 2-4, 2024.

--Field Level Media