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Hey, guess what?
Remember how rain and bad weather has affected Cubs games in Chicago over the last week or so?
Well, it's going to do the same in Cleveland -- both days the Cubs are going to be there. Based on that forecast, tonight's game looks like it will be played, though delays are possible. Tomorrow, though... that's a different story.
The Cubs have already had four games rained out, three at home and one at Cincinnati, and have had several rain delays. Perhaps the weather pattern will change soon. Because it might rain on the Cubs in Minnesota this weekend, too.
Here are today's particulars.
Cubs lineup:
Fowler CF, Rizzo 1B, Bryant 3B, Montero C, Castro SS, Coghlan LF, Denorfia RF, Schwarber DH, Russell 2B
.@kschwarb12 gets his first career start tonight in Cleveland! #LetsGo Game preview: http://t.co/DBhSRzWSoP pic.twitter.com/jjOEblE0z7
— #VoteCubs (@Cubs) June 17, 2015
Indians lineup:
Kipnis 2B, Lindor SS, Brantley CF, Santana 1B, Raburn DH, Gomes C, Moss RF, Urshela 3B, Aviles LF
So I have a little bone to pick with the Indians' Twitter account. Here's how they sent out tonight's lineup:
Tonight's Lineup vs. #Cubs @Lindor12BC makes his home debut after going 2-5 with 1 R & 1 RBI last night. pic.twitter.com/ySKAyfZbX4
— #VoteKip #VoteTribe (@Indians) June 17, 2015
Now, I suppose if you're a big Indians fan you'd recognize all those faces, but I sure didn't. I was trying to figure them out and got about half of them when I found this tweet from the Tribe's MLB.com beat writer:
Today's Tribe 9: Kipnis 2B Lindor SS Brantley CF Santana 1B Raburn DH Gomes C Moss RF Urshela 3B Aviles LF -------------------- Marcum SP
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) June 17, 2015
That one was more helpful. It's great that team Twitter accounts -- including the Cubs -- are getting more creative, but the Indians' lineup tweet was a bit too cute for its own good, in my opinion.
Today's Starting Pitchers |
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This start might go a long way toward deciding whether Tsuyoshi Wada will stay in the Cubs' rotation, or whether they'll try someone else. Wada was bad in his last start and out of his five outings, just two of them were decent. He has never faced the Indians or anyone on their roster; sometimes that gives a pitcher an advantage. Hope that's the case tonight.
We are pretty familiar with Shaun Marcum from his time with the Brewers, where he was a pretty dependable starter. He missed the 2014 season (except for a few minor-league rehab starts) with surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome. At 33, he's doing reasonably well for the Indians so far this year (4.09 ERA, 1.091 WHIP in six appearances, five of which are starts). Current Cubs are a small-sample-size 12-for-59 (.203) against Marcum with two home runs (Miguel Montero and Starlin Castro, though overall Castro is just 2-for-19 against Marcum).
Today's game is on CSN Chicago.
Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Indians site Let's Go Tribe. If you do go there to interact with Indians fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.
The 2015 Game Thread procedure has changed a bit. Here's how it will work going forward.
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. The First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads will be published in that stream, as well as the recap. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post, and at the time I write the recap I will rename the stream "Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads" so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.
You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread, all the overflow threads and recap 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 the game's StoryStream™ as noted above.
The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at one hour, two hours and 2:45 after the scheduled game time.
Discuss amongst yourselves.