Cubs vs. Reds Preview, Wednesday 8/14, 1:20 CT: Please, Reds. Go Away.

Dear Cincinnati Reds,

Enough, already. You're getting into the postseason (well, at least the wild-card game). Haven't you had enough fun beating up on the Cubs? Please go away from Wrigley Field until next year.

Thank you,
Cubs fans

All right, that taken care of, I found this statement from Theo Epstein on September callups interesting:

The Cubs will expand their 25-man roster on Sept. 1 mostly with players returning from injuries, Epstein said. Outfielders Ryan Sweeney (rib) and Brian Bogusevic (hamstring) and pitcher Scott Baker (elbow) fit into that category, with Bogusevic possibly returning sooner.

The promotions "might not be traditional September call-ups," said Epstein, adding that there were a few players they were considering adding to the 40-man roster.

So what does that mean, exactly? Will they add players they have to protect from the Rule 5 draft now, and recall some? Or are they still looking outside the organization for possible waiver additions?

Beyond Sweeney, Bogusevic and Baker, I'd expect J.C. Boscan to be recalled to provide a third catcher. In general, teams don't recall more than six or seven players; they don't want to pay the extra travel expenses and there simply isn't enough playing time for more than that.

Who do you think the Cubs will add to the roster September 1?

Cubs lineup:

DeJesus CF, McDonald LF, Rizzo 1B, Castillo C, Schierholtz RF, Murphy SS, Watkins 2B, Ransom 3B, Rusin P

Once again, insert "other split squad" joke here. On the other hand, maybe Junior Lake, Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney could use the day off.

The Reds lineup was not available at the time I wrote this post. Please check the BCB Twitter feed for the Reds lineup.

Today's Starting Pitchers

Chris Rusin Cubs vs. Bronson Arroyo Reds vs. Ari -- vs. Cubs

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Chris Rusin has actually pitched pretty well since his recall; of his five starts, three are good, one mediocre, one bad (and the bad one was his first, made on short rest). Maybe he's finally figured it out at the big-league level. He has one career start against the Reds, September 19, 2012 at Wrigley Field. Rusin gave up a lot of hits in that game; he seems to be a better pitcher now.

Bronson Arroyo has just one start this year against the Cubs -- May 24 in Cincinnati (Go look and see who homered off Arroyo that day.) In his career Arroyo has been quite a familiar face to Cubs fans -- 29 appearances, 27 starts, a 3.04 ERA (much better than his overall career). Current Cubs are hitting just .200 (20-for-100) against Arroyo with one home run (Starlin Castro).

Today's game is on CSN Chicago.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Reds site Red Reporter.

Here's the scoop on game threads for 2013. You'll find the game preview -- like this one -- posting as the first link in the StoryStream™, which will then contain all the overflow threads and the recap. The recap will also be on the front page as a separate post; once I post a game recap, the stream for each game will be retitled "Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads" so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.

In general, game previews will post two hours before game time. Exception: for day games after night games, that will usually be 90 minutes.

You will also be able to find the First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads in the box marked "Chicago Cubs Game Threads" at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). They will also appear in this StoryStream™. As I've done for each regular-season game for several years now, we'll have the First Pitch thread at five minutes before game time (moved up from actual game time per your requests), then an overflow one hour, two hours and 2:45 after game time.

Discuss amongst yourselves.