Chicago Cubs vs. Colorado Rockies Preview, Sunday 4/17, 1:20 CT

The Cubs have won five straight regular-season series dating back to the end of 2015, the last two series of last year and the first three of this season.

Since the Cubs ended the 2015 regular season on an eight-game winning streak, that means that since they began that streak with a 4-0 win over the Pirates on September 27, they have a 17-2 mark in regular-season contests.

Let's keep that going today, shall we? Another series win is possible with a victory this afternoon.

A couple more notes on Jake Arrieta, via this ESPN Insider article by Buster Olney:

From Elias: Jake Arrieta extended his regular-season streak of consecutive shutout innings at Wrigley Field to 48 2/3, the longest of any pitcher in the ballpark's history, and the longest for any major league pitcher in games played at his home park since the Phillies' Ray Herbert threw 54 straight scoreless innings at Connie Mack Stadium over the 1962 and 1963 seasons.

Also, the Cubs have won each of Jake's last 16 starts. That ties a team record set by Ed Reulbach in 1906-07. Jake and the Cubs can break that in his next start, which should be Thursday against the Reds in Cincinnati.

Here are today's particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Fowler CF, Heyward RF, Zobrist 2B, Rizzo 1B, Bryant 3B, Soler LF, Baez SS, Ross C, Lester P

Joe Maddon continues his campaign to give guys some occasional rest. Today, Addison Russell gets the day off, as well as Miguel Montero, who last played on Friday.

.@JLester34 is back on the mound for the homestand finale! https://t.co/LK1oYhyoq9 #LetsGo pic.twitter.com/wYsEReAcVu

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 17, 2016

Rockies lineup:

LeMahieu 2B, Story SS, Gonzalez RF, Arenado 3B, Parra LF, Reynolds 1B, Barnes CF, Wolters C, Chatwood P

Jon Lester has made two starts, one excellent, the other good. That's a much better start than he had last year, for sure. He had one of his best Cubs starts against the Rox last year, July 29 at Wrigley Field, throwing eight strong innings with 14 strikeouts. Current Rockies are 21-for-106 (.198) against Lester with two home runs (Mark Reynolds, Carlos Gonzalez).

Tyler Chatwood has one career start against the Cubs. It happened almost three years ago, July 21, 2013 in Denver. (Link for amusement value only.) Anthony Rizzo is the only Cub left from that game who has faced Chatwood; he homered off him. Chatwood has made two starts this year; he handled the Diamondbacks pretty well but got pounded by the Giants. Here's hoping for one of those.

Today's game is on WGN.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

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The 2016 Game Thread procedure will be the same as the one used at the end of 2015. Here's how it works.

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.