Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals Preview, Friday 8/12, 1:20 CT

You will definitely need this weather radar GIF during today's game:

Here's hoping the Cubs and Cardinals get enough of a "window" to play this afternoon's game.

Fun facts about the current winning streak:

• It is just the second Cubs winning streak of nine games or longer in August or later since 1953 (the other, 1970). The 1953 Cubs were 50-82 on September 2; that pace would have had them lose a then-franchise record 96 games, but they somehow won 10 straight and finished with "only" 89 losses.
  
• The Cubs have now posted winning streaks of at least nine games in both 2015 and 2016. The last time the Cubs posted winning streaks of at least eight games in consecutive seasons, before this year, was in 1927 and 1928. (H/T: Ed Hartig)
• The Cubs have now tied their best-ever streak (9-0) to begin August since 1909. The Cubs finished August 1909 at 22-8.

Here are today's particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Szczur CF, Bryant 3B, Rizzo 1B, Soler RF, Russell SS, Contreras LF, Montero C, Baez 2B, Arrieta P

Cardinals lineup:

Carpenter 1B, Piscotty RF, Moss LF, Molina C, Gyorko 3B, Garcia SS, Grichuk CF, Wong 2B, Wainwright P

Jake Arrieta has made two starts against the Cardinals this year, and not gotten past the sixth inning in either of them. So instead of looking at those, let's focus on Jake's last two starts, in which he's begun to look like last year's Jake! -- 15 innings, five hits, two runs, 1.20 ERA, 0.600 WHIP, no home runs allowed. Hopefully, Jake, working on five days' rest, will keep that up.

The Cubs have 13 hits, six walks and six runs scored off Adam Wainwright this year in two starts covering 12.2 innings, though the Cardinals won both of the games. Wainwright threw a complete-game shutout against the Marlins in his first post-All-Star start, but since then has posted a 5.32 ERA in four starts, with 32 hits allowed and a 1.606 WHIP in 23.2 innings. That's the Wainwright we'd like to see this afternoon.

Today's game is on ABC7 Chicago. It's also being carried by MLB Network (outside the Chicago and St. Louis markets). For affiliate information in the Illinois/Indiana/Iowa Cubs TV market click here.

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 Cardinals site Viva el Birdos. If you do go there to interact with Cardinals 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.