Chicago Cubs vs. Atlanta Braves preview, Monday 6/24, 7:05 CT

Sigh. Once again, you’ll need to keep this handy tonight, though this forecast says the rain should be done by game time.

Notes:

• THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: The Cubs are 10-5 in their last 15 home games since May 25, and the club is 27-14 (.659) overall at Wrigley Field this season, the second-best home mark in the N.L. (Dodgers, 34-9/.791).
• WRIGLEY FIELD, PITCHER’S PARK? Cubs pitching has posted a 3.19 ERA (134 earned runs in 378 innings) at Wrigley Field, the second-lowest home ERA in baseball, trailing only the Dodgers’ 2.56 ERA at Dodger Stadium.
• BRAVES NEW WORLD: In 10 career starts against Atlanta, Jon Lester is 6-2 with a 2.52 ERA (18 earned runs in 64⅓ innings), including a 4-0 record with a 1.83 ERA (eight earned runs in 39⅓ innings) in six starts with the Cubs. More on Jon below.
• THE HITTING OF MR. BRYANT: Kris Bryant has a 10-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in 20 straight games dating to June 2. KB is hitting .389 (14-for-36) with a 1.047 OPS during this 10-game streak. His career high hitting streak is 14 games, done during the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
• THE HITTING OF MR. RIZZO: Anthony Rizzo’s 19 homers are already only six fewer than his 2018 season total. Last year he hit his 19th homer on August 21 in the team’s 124th game, and he is on pace for 40 homers and 114 RBI this year, both of which would exceed his current career highs (32 homers three times, 109 RBI twice).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Braves lineup:

Jon Lester, LHP vs. Julio Teheran, RHP

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Jon Lester has not pitched well lately, not at all. Last seven starts: 7.17 ERA, 1.593 WHIP, .325 opponents BA.

The only thing we can hope is that this is just a bad stretch and he’ll come out of it. There are some notable comments from Lester in this Jesse Rogers article regarding what happens to him when he loses his “feel” for his pitches.

Jon did throw six pretty good innings against the Braves (two runs, seven strikeouts) April 3 in Atlanta, a game where the bullpen blew a late lead. I’d take an outing like that today. The two runs were solo homers (Dansby Swanson, Ozzie Albies).

Jon’s opponent in that April 3 game was Julio Teheran, so we’re getting a rematch tonight. Teheran allowed one run in five innings in that game.

Since the beginning of May, Teheran has been very good. In nine starts since then: 1.35 ERA, 1.110 WHIP, .168 opponents BA, only one home run in 48⅔ innings. Current Cubs are hitting .175 (18-for-103) against him. Interestingly, Lester singled and walked against Teheran April 3 in Atlanta.

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 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.