Fri Sep 26 17:30:00 UTC 2025: Okay, here’s a news article summarizing the provided text:
**Cubs’ Bats Stay Hot, Eyes on Home-Field Advantage as Season Winds Down**
CHICAGO – The Chicago Cubs are finishing the regular season strong offensively, despite losing Thursday’s game. Last night marked their third consecutive game scoring at least five runs, a feat they hadn’t accomplished since late July. While the Cubs dropped the game, they did hit three home runs, although the team is 22-4 when hitting at least 3 homers in a game.
Despite last night’s loss, the Cubs’ magic number to clinch home-field advantage in the Wild Card series against the San Diego Padres remains at 2. With three games remaining against the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field, two more wins would guarantee the Cubs host the Wild Card series next Tuesday.
Beyond the on-field excitement, the Cubs are also on the verge of a significant milestone off the field. They need to average 31,053 fans per game during the weekend series against the Cardinals to surpass three million tickets sold for the first time since 2019.
Today’s game will feature Colin Rea on the mound for the Cubs. Rea is coming off his best start of the year, eight days prior against the Reds, where he pitched seven innings, allowed only one run, and struck out a career-high 11 batters. He has pitched well against the Cardinals this season, giving up just two runs in 12.2 innings across two starts. The Cardinals are expected to start Miles Mikolas. Mikolas struggled against the Cubs this year, most notably, he was on the mound when the Cubs hit a franchise-record eight home runs against the Cardinals on July 4th.
The game will be broadcast on Marquee Sports Network and MLB Network.
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