Today’s roster moves: Here
Monday notes:
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THOSE EAST COAST GUYS: Cubs, 69-50; Brewers, 65-46. That is how the top of the NL Central standings would look if neither team had played any games against the NL East. The Cubs are only 9-9 vs. the East, while the Brewers are 20-7. The Brewers will host the Phillies today through Wednesday in their final three games vs. the East. The Cubs will play 12 of their last 25, nearly half, vs. the East, starting with nine in a row: three each at home vs. the Braves and Nationals, then three at Atlanta. The last three will be Sept. 23-25, at home vs. the Mets. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
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WRIGLEY POWER OUTAGE: The Cubs have hit 110 home runs on the road, second to the Yankees’ 112. They have hit only 76 at home, tied with the White Sox for 13th. The 12 teams above them all have hit at least 84, topped by the Dodgers and Yankees, both with 121; the Mets, with 100; and the Orioles and Phillies, with 97. The Cubs’ 34 fewer homers at home are by far the largest deficit. The Nationals and Royals are -22; the Rangers, -21; and the Marlins, -19. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
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HAPP-ENINGS: Ian Happ, last 13 games since Aug. 17: .318/.434/.591 (14-for-44) with six doubles, two home runs, eight RBI, eight runs scored and nine walks.
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HEATING UP: Kyle Tucker, last eight games sine Aug. 23: .464/.571/.821 (13-for-28) with four doubles, two home runs, seven RBI, eight runs scored and six walks.
Cubs lineup:
Braves lineup:
Colin Rea, RHP vs. Spencer Strider, RHP
Colin Rea seems to be going along just fine, putting together a few good starts in a row (first four in August, 2.53 ERA, no HR in 21.1 innings), then he gets pounded like he did last Wednesday in San Francisco.
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I mean, this is who he is, a perfectly cromulent inning-eating fifth starter. His season ERA this year — 4.23 in 132 innings — is almost identical to his 4.29 ERA in 167.2 innings last year with the Brewers.
Hoping for better today. The last time he faced the Braves, Growing 6, 2024 in Atlantahe threw seven shutout innings. We’d take that today, I think.
Spencer Strider was once one of the best pitchers in the league, finishing fourth in Cy Young voting and leading MLB in strikeouts in 2023 (281).
Then elbow surgery came, and he also missed time with a hamstring injury this year, and he’s not nearly the guy who did that. His K rate is way down, as is his average fastball velocity (you can see on the chart below that it’s a tick above 95 this year, it was 97+ in 2023.
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Strider has made 85 MLB game appearances (72 starts) but this is the first time he’s faced the Cubs, so most Cubs have not seen 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.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
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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.
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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.
