Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates Preview, Saturday 5/14, 1:20 CT

Here's how much fun this year's Cubs are having:

Ross went 3-for-4 with a homer and has a 110 wRC+ on the season. He was asked why he's hitting so well. "Cause I'm awesome," he joked.

— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) May 13, 2016

David Ross is having his best offensive season in at least six years and already has more home runs RBI than he had all of last year, in one-third the at-bats, and is at 0.8 bWAR, in just 18 games played.

Awesome is right. Keep it going.

Here are today's particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Fowler CF, Heyward RF, Bryant 3B, Rizzo 1B, Zobrist 2B, Soler LF, Russell SS, Montero C, Arrieta P 

Pirates lineup:

Jaso 1B, McCutchen CF, Polanco RF, Marte LF, Cervelli C, Kang 3B, Harrison 2B, Mercer SS, Locke P

Jake Arrieta had his worst outing of the year in his last start, which would still be considered pretty good by the mere mortals who are other starters in the major leagues. He still leads MLB in ERA and ERA+, and the N.L. in fewest hits per nine innings (4.9). 11 days ago in Pittsburgh, he threw seven scoreless innings against the Pirates, allowing just two hits and two walks. I'll take another one just like that, please.

The Cubs did not face Jeff Locke in the series at PNC Park earlier this month. Locke had a rough April (5.03 ERA) and only slightly better in two May starts (4.15 ERA). He's walked 19 in 32⅔ innings this year; the Cubs, being a patient team, should be able to take advantage of that. Current Cubs are hitting .288 (23-for-80) against Locke with five home runs (three by Anthony Rizzo).

Today's game is on ABC7 Chicago. It's also on 670 The Score and Sirius/XM 183.

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 Pirates site Bucs Dugout. If you do go there to interact with Pirates 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 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.