Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals preview, Sunday 7/22, 1:20 CT

Nothing’s been announced yet, and won't be until later today, but my guess is that Luke Farrell will start Monday’s game against the Diamondbacks. Farrell was in Chicago Saturday as the “26th man” for the doubleheader. He did warm up briefly during Saturday’s second game, but didn’t get into the game. And now, based on this roster move announced about an hour ago, that seems likely:

Farrell last pitched July 16, three innings against Memphis for Iowa. He threw 65 pitches in that game, allowed two hits and four walks, but no runs, so he’ll have six full days rest (apart from the warmups Saturday).

Hopefully, Jose Quintana can go deep into this afternoon's game and save the pen so that Farrell isn't needed and can make the start Monday.

And so we’ll find out more after today’s series finale. In the meantime, there’s a game to be won against the Cardinals this afternoon.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Cardinals lineup:

Jose Quintana, LHP vs. Miles Mikolas, RHP

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Every now and again, Jose Quintana has a start that reminds you why Theo & Co. gave up what they did to acquire him from the White Sox. Like his last outing vs. the Giants: six innings, three hits, no runs. Simply put, we need more just like that one.

His one start vs. the Cardinals this year, June 17 in St. Louis, was decent, not great: five innings, four hits, two runs. Q hasn’t thrown in 12 days, so hopefully the extended rest will get him off to a good start in the second half, as was the case for Mike Montgomery on Saturday.

Miles Mikolas has been a revelation for the Cardinals, coming back from three years pitching in Japan. He has, without question, been their most consistent starter all season.

That includes seven shutout innings against the Cubs May 4 in St. Louis. Mikolas might have thrown earlier in this series, but he was on the paternity list while his wife gave birth to twins. Congratulations to the Mikolas family. Now let’s give him a gift of a few Cubs runs and homers this afternoon.

Today’s game is on ABC7 Chicago. It’s also on TBS (no blackouts).

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 2018 Game Thread procedure will be the same as the one used during 2017. 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.