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The Addison Russell Era begins tonight.
Do I really need to say anything else up here?
Wait, yes I do. Here is your once-a-series reminder about SB Nation's partner daily fantasy game, FanDuel. If you want to participate, here's the link.
Here are today's particulars.
Cubs lineup:
Fowler CF, Rizzo 1B, Soler RF, Bryant 3B, Castro SS, Denorfia LF, Castillo C, Wood P, Russell 2B
From the Cubs:
Hi @Addison_Russell. #LetsGo Game preview: http://t.co/WcnFUOrV8k pic.twitter.com/7gHC8T8Fv2
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 21, 2015
Pirates lineup:
Harrison 3B, Walker 2B, McCutchen CF, Hart 1B, Marte LF, Kang SS, Cervelli C, Rodriguez RF, Liriano P
Today's Starting Pitchers |
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Travis Wood has one mediocre start and one very good one so far this year. He faced the Pirates four times in 2014. One start was excellent, one good, one mediocre and one awful. (In that exact order, too.) Let's hope we get the first of that kind tonight. Current Pirates are hitting .281 (39-for-139) against Wood, but the best of those is Jordy Mercer (5-for-11, two home runs), and Mercer is out with an injury.
Francisco Liriano faced the Cubs four times in 2014. Two of those starts were excellent, one mediocre, and one he left with an injury. He's had two good outings already this year, and current Cubs are hitting .194 (13-for-67) against him.
I'd say "Clearly, we are doomed," but with the new energy on this Cubs team... maybe not!
Today's game is on WGN. For coverage info in other Midwest markets click here (link opens .pdf).
Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Pirates site Bucs Dugout.
Once again for 2015, we are going to have the same game-thread routine as the last couple of years. Here's how it works.
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 most 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.