Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds Preview, Wednesday 5/17, 7:05 CT

Came across this interesting factoid yesterday:

With a win today, the @Astros will have won 70% of their first 40 games. 3 of the last 4 teams to do so have won the World Series. pic.twitter.com/RBdUDCwojc

— MLB Stat of the Day (@MLBStatoftheDay) May 16, 2017

The Astros did win and entered today 28-12. The tweet didn't say who the last three teams to do it and win the World Series were, but as far as I can tell they are:

2016 Cubs: 29-11
2005 White Sox: 28-12
1998 Yankees: 31-9

The one that didn't was the 2001 Mariners, who also started 31-9.

Hopefully the Cubs can make the Astros one of two teams in recent years that started at .700 or above in their first 40 games and did not win the World Series. (FWIW, the Astros won Wednesday afternoon to go to 29-12. Last year's Cubs were also 29-12.)

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Schwarber LF, Bryant 3B, Rizzo 1B, Happ CF, Zobrist 2B, Russell SS, Montero C, Hendricks P, Jay RF

Here is tonight's #Cubs lineup vs. Cincinnati.

Game preview: https://t.co/DHB5Pmbz67 pic.twitter.com/ie8BOciwMM

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 17, 2017

Reds lineup:

Hamilton CF, Cozart SS, Votto 1B, Duvall LF, Suarez 3B, Schebler RF, Peraza 2B, Barnhart C, Feldman P

Kyle Hendricks vs. Scott Feldman

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

After a rough start Kyle Hendricks has looked like 2016 Kyle over his last four starts: 1.52 ERA, 1.099 WHIP, 21 strikeouts in 23⅔ innings. He did not face the Reds in the series in Cincinnati in April, and last year he posted a 3.18 ERA and 1.294 WHIP in three starts against the Reds. Current Reds are hitting .273 (27-for-99) against him with three home runs, two of those by Joey Votto. Keep the ball down tonight, Kyle!

Hello, old friend Scott Feldman. Too bad this game didn't feature him matching up against Jake Arrieta, the pitcher for whom he was traded. Feldman is having a fine year; he's already thrown a complete-game shutout, one of seven such games so far this year. He'll almost certainly be traded at the deadline. You don't suppose...

Nah. Feldman is now 34, seemingly not the type of guy Theo would go after. Interestingly, he has never faced the Cubs -- not once over 329 career appearances (191 starts). Thus current Cubs are a small-sample-size 6-for-35 against him (about half of that is Ben Zobrist, 3-for-16) and none of the Cubs' big bats (Anthony Rizzo, Kyle Schwarber, Kris Bryant) have ever faced him.

Could be an interesting night with the wind blowing out again.

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 2017 Game Thread procedure will be the same as the one used during 2016. 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.

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Discuss amongst yourselves.