Chicago Cubs vs. Washington Nationals Preview, Friday 6/5, 6:05 CT

The Cubs won seven straight games in Washington in 2009 (a four-game sweep) and 2010 (a three-game sweep). Since then, including last night's win, they are 5-10 in Nationals Park. Of course, one of the reasons for that is that the Cubs were not a good team from 2011-14 and the Nationals were.

Now, the two teams have nearly identical records and the talent level is a bit more equal. It would be nice to get out of D.C. with at least a split in this series.

Here are today's particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Fowler CF, Rizzo 1B, Bryant 3B, Montero C, Lake RF, Castro SS, Coghlan LF, Wada P, Russell 2B

Here is tonight's #Cubs starting lineup. Game preview: http://t.co/29RSMLSNhc #LetsGo pic.twitter.com/8PQjtAFCgl

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 5, 2015

Nationals lineup:

Span CF, Zimmerman 1B, Harper RF, Rendon 3B, Ramos C, Desmond SS, Espinosa 2B, Taylor LF, Roark P

Today's Starting Pitchers

Tsuyoshi Wada Cubs vs. Tanner Roark Nationals vs. Was -- vs. Cubs

Today's game is a pitching rematch from May 25 at Wrigley Field. Kris Bryant homered off Tanner Roark in the first inning, but he allowed only two other hits. Tsuyoshi Wada also gave up only one run, and four total hits, but left the game when it was tied. Justin Grimm gave up a home run to Wilson Ramos and that was it for that day.

Roark is tough. He threw six good innings against the Reds last Sunday. That same day, Wada had a good outing against the Royals in a game the Cubs wound up winning in extras.

Based on that, this should be a low-scoring pitcher's duel. Now that I've said that, it probably won't be.

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 Nationals site Federal Baseball. If you do go there to interact with Nationals 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.