Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates preview, Wednesday 9/26, 7:05 CT

As has been my practice this week, here, courtesy BCBer interbret, is the Cubs/Brewers/Cardinals elimination chart:

Just win, baby.

It should also be mentioned that since the Cubs began that 30-day stretch without a scheduled off day August 21, they are 20-13, third-best mark in the N.L., and have lost three in a row in that 33-game span just once (the doubleheader in Washington and the first game at home against Milwaukee). They haven’t lost more than three in a row since June.

Feel better now?

I found this amusing... sort of:

Uh... time to get the offense going, I’d say. (The one home run among that group, matching Cole Hamels, was hit by Kris Bryant September 17 in Arizona.) The Cubs have 18 home runs as a team this month, tied for 27th in MLB. Only the Marlins and Giants (both with 15) have fewer. The Dodgers lead MLB with 38 home runs this month.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Pirates lineup:

Jose Quintana, LHP vs. Ivan Nova, RHP

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports

Jose Quintana had been going along great from the beginning of August till mid-September and then, splat, he had a clunker against his former team, the White Sox, last Friday. Maybe he was over-amped to throw in his former ballpark in the first start he had made against the Sox.

Q had a decent, not great, start vs. the Pirates August 19 at PNC Park. He allowed just four hits and a run in five innings, but ran up a high pitch count (93) and had to be removed.

Current Pirates are a small-sample-size .212 (11-for-52) against Q with two home runs (Josh Bell, Francisco Cervelli).

Since we last saw Ivan Nova, he’s made five pretty good starts: 2.77 ERA, 1.000 WHIP in 26 innings, with two good starts vs. the Brewers and one against the Braves.

Against the Cubs this year: three starts, 2.33 ERA, 1.034 WHIP, and the Pirates won two of the three games. Current Cubs are hitting just .235 (40-for-170) against Nova, but with six home runs, three of those by Ian Happ and two from Javier Baez.

Today’s game is on NBC Sports 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 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.