Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds preview, Wednesday 5/15, 5:40 CT

Cubs record since the following dates:

April 7: 23-7
April 11: 22-6
April 20: 16-5
April 26: 13-2
May 6: 7-1

Keep up the good work, guys.

Notes:

• The Cubs are 11 games over .500 at 25-14. Last year, the Cubs did not reach that mark until Game 59 (35-24, 20 games later than this year) and in 2017, the Cubs did not get there until Game 131 (71-60).
• The Cubs have also won eight series in a row starting with their series in Miami April 15-17. With a win tonight or tomorrow, the Cubs would stretch their streak to nine series wins in a row for the first time in more than 10 years, since July 28-August 27, 2008.
• This week’s series in Cincinnati marks only the Cubs’ second road series within the N.L. Central this season and their first since a three-game set in Milwaukee from April 5-7. The Cubs won’t play in St. Louis until May 31 and don’t make it to Pittsburgh until July 1.
• Kris Bryant has reached safely in each of his last 23 games since April 17, the longest streak of his career and the longest active streak in the majors. KB has a .457 OBP in this stretch, the second-highest OBP in the majors, with more walks (21) than strikeouts (15), and a 1.136 OPS.
• Cubs starting pitchers have posted a 2.21 ERA (43 earned runs in 175⅓ innings) in the team’s last 28 games starting April 11, after they had a 6.52 ERA (35 earned runs in 48⅓ innings) in the team’s first 11 contests to begin the season. Meanwhile, the bullpen has posted a 2.16 ERA (25 earned runs in 104⅓ innings) and .572 OPS against in its last 30 games starting April 7 after posting a 9.51 ERA (31 earned runs in 29⅓ innings) and 1.041 OPS against in its first eight games from March 28-April 6.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Once again, another day off for Anthony Rizzo. And, Taylor Davis once again catches for Yu Darvish.

Reds lineup:

Yu Darvish, RHP vs. Sonny Gray, RHP

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Yu Darvish vs. Sonny Gray. What year is this, 2014?

In the 16 starts Darvish made against the Athletics when he and Gray were both in the A.L. West, they faced each other just once: April 28, 2014 at Texas. Gray threw a two-hit complete game shutout. Darvish gave up six hits, two walks and four runs in 3⅓ innings, throwing 83 pitches. Is this sounding familiar?

I honestly don’t have anything more to say about Darvish that I didn’t say in this article earlier today.

Gray threw well early this year, though he, like Darvish, had trouble getting out of the middle innings. His last four starts, though: 5.49 ERA, 1.475 WHIP. He has faced the Cubs once, August 6, 2016, and allowed two runs in five innings. No current Cub has more than five career at-bats against him.

In short, this pitching matchup is one big ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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

Please visit our SB Nation Reds site Red Reporter. If you do go there to interact with Reds fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

The 2019 Game Thread procedure will be the same as the one used in previous years. 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.