Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds Preview, Tuesday 9/29, 6:10 CT

The Cubs have played some of their best baseball this month against other contending teams. They've lost games to the Brewers and Reds and Phillies that they probably should have won.

Monday, MLB made the Reds fly to Washington to play the Nationals in what wound up being a meaningless makeup game (it likely wasn't when it was scheduled, though) in the middle of a homestand. They almost got no-hit by Max Scherzer. The Cubs really ought to dominate the Reds, and they are 10-6 so far this year against them, 4-2 in Cincinnati.

I'll be disappointed if the Cubs don't win at least two of three in this series. No "On The Horizon" for this series as I got busy with other projects, but you can vote in the poll in this preview.

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, Schwarber LF, Bryant 3B, Rizzo 1B, La Stella 2B, Montero C, Baez SS, Haren P, Coghlan RF

Here is tonight's #Cubs starting lineup for the opener in Cincinnati. Game preview: http://t.co/CXlP5sGGut #LetsGo pic.twitter.com/TFjBOuyEV0

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 29, 2015

Reds lineup:

Bourgeois CF, De Jesus 2B, Votto 1B, Frazier 3B, Bruce LF, Suarez SS, Barnhart C, Duvall LF, Smith P

Today's Starting Pitchers

Dan Haren Cubs vs. Josh Smith Reds vs. Cin -- vs. Cubs

Dan Haren last pitched 11 days ago. He faced the Reds September 1 at Wrigley Field and had a decent outing against them (five innings, four hits, two runs, one HR by Joey Votto). Haren is likely having either his last or second-to-last appearance for the Cubs as he's very unlikely to be on any postseason roster. It'd be nice to see him go out with some good pitching.

Josh Smith is making his eighth big-league appearance (sixth start). He's been pretty bad (7.23 ERA, 1.901 WHIP). He has walked 16 in 23⅔ innings, which ought to be great for a patient team like the Cubs, although he's cut down on the walks in his second recall (three walks in 11⅓ innings in September). He has never faced the Cubs or anyone on the current roster.

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. If you do go there to interact with Reds 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.