Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers preview, Saturday 9/23, 12:05 CT

Notes for an early Saturday afternoon start:

• The Cubs have won consecutive extra-inning games against the same club in which it had to come-from-behind in both contests for the first time since June 19-20, 2009 vs. the Indians, and it’s the first time the Cubs have turned the trick against the same team on the road in 41 years since doing so May 2, 1976, in both ends of a doubleheader at San Francisco (H/T: STATS Inc.)
• The comeback victory was the Cubs’ 43rd of the season, second-most in the N.L. (Dodgers, 45) and third-most in the majors (Angels are second with 44).
• The Cubs have 286 regular-season victories since the start of the 2015 season, marking the winningest three-season span for the franchise in over 100 years. A win today would tie the 287 regular-season wins from 1910-12. The franchise record is 322, set from 1906-08.
• Cubs catchers lead MLB with a combined .292 batting average (163-for-558), .366 on-base percentage, .509 slugging mark and .875 OPS.
• Lastly, the Cubs’ next home run will give them 213 for the season and surpass 1998 as second-best in team history. The 2004 Cubs set the franchise record, 235.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Jay LF, Bryant 3B, Rizzo 1B, Contreras C, Almora CF, Russell SS, Baez 2B, Happ RF, Hendricks P

Brewers lineup:

Sogard 2B, Walker 1B, Braun LF, Shaw 3B, Thames RF, Vogt C, Arcia SS, Phillips CF, Suter P

Kyle Hendricks vs. Brent Suter

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports

Kyle Hendricks since returning from the DL in mid-July: 11 starts, 2.42 ERA, 1.164 WHIP, 67 innings — which means he’s averaging more than six innings per start, something the Cubs could really use today with their overworked bullpen.

Kyle had a decent start against the Brewers September 10 at Wrigley Field, going six innings, allowing four hits and three runs and striking out seven. The difference in the game was a two-run homer hit off Kyle in the sixth by Travis Shaw. Shaw has homered twice this year off Kyle, so keeping him in the park would be helpful.

Brent Suter was pressed into Milwaukee’s rotation when Jimmy Nelson went out for the year with a shoulder injury. They’ve been trying to stretch him out to go longer and longer; his last start, five shutout innings vs. the Pirates on September 18, consisted of 64 pitches.

Suter had a couple of relief appearances vs. the Cubs in April, and in his only start against them, July 28 at Miller Park, he threw seven shutout innings. Of course, we would like to see the Cubs avoid a repeat of that this afternoon.

Today’s game is on Fox-TV. Here’s the coverage map (scroll down below all the football info). Announcers: Matt Vasgersian and John Smoltz. Reminder: If the game is not on the Fox affiliate in your market, you can still watch if you have a subscription to MLB.tv or MLB Extra Innings.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday (classic mode) (Note: Going forward, I am going to link to the “classic” Gameday here because MLB.com broke the links I used to use to get to their “new” Gameday. If you click on this link, you can then click on “New Gameday” at the bottom of the page to get to the updated version. Note that the “classic” Gameday won’t load until just before game time.)

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.