Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds preview, Tuesday 8/15, 7:05 CT

I posted most of this info in the comments to last night’s recap, but thought it was salient enough to repost here.

Since the beginning of 2015, the Cubs are 35-13 vs. the Reds.

In those 48 games they have outscored the Reds 307-201. This includes losses to the Reds by 13-6 (2015) and 13-5 (2016). That means that eliminating those two games would make the record 35-11 with a run differential of 296-175.

Dominance like that hasn’t happened for any Cubs team in many, many years. It should be noted, however, that the Reds dominated the Cubs in the five previous seasons, 2010-14, a time when the Reds won 90+ games three times and qualified for the postseason tournament in all three. In those five seasons the Reds were 60-28 against the Cubs and outscored them 434-320.

It’s nice to be on the other side of that now.

Cubs lineup:

Jay LF, La Stella 2B, Bryant 3B, Rizzo 1B, Caratini C, Almora CF, Heyward RF, Baez SS, Hendricks P

Reds lineup:

Hamilton CF, Cozart SS, Votto 1B, Duvall LF, Gennett 2B, Suarez 3B, Winker RF, Barnhart C, Castillo P

Kyle Hendricks vs. Luis Castillo

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Since his return from the DL, Kyle Hendricks has a 2.70 ERA and 1.381 WHIP in 21 innings, though I would only characterize one of those four starts as “good.” The last time he faced the Reds was May 17 at Wrigley Field, and he threw six solid innings (two runs).

I’ll take another one of those, please. (And some increased velocity, too.)

Luis Castillo has been traded three times in the last three years, and came to the Reds in the deal that sent Dan Straily to the Marlins. He didn’t seem like much of a prospect to the teams that let him go, but he has pitched pretty well for the Reds and might actually be their most consistent starter right now.

He will be making his 11th major-league start today. He has obviously never faced the Cubs or anyone on the current roster. He has allowed nine home runs in 60⅓ innings and has a walk rate of 3.9 per nine innings. Perhaps the Cubs can take advantage of those.

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

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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.