Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals simulated game, Saturday 6/13, 3 p.m. CT

We have been playing the 2020 Cubs season as originally scheduled via MLB The Show 20. The video game has a pretty good degree of realism, including very detailed views of all the MLB ballparks, including Wrigley Field.

The Cubs and Cardinals were supposed to meet in London, England today and tomorrow at London Stadium, the stadium that was built for the 2012 Olympics. Unfortunately, MLB The Show doesn’t have London Stadium in its database, even though it was used last year for two Yankees/Red Sox games.

So Duane and I had to choose another park. These are officially Cardinals home games and they’ll bat last, but we didn’t want to use Busch Stadium.

Thus your simLondon Series will take place at the Polo Grounds, an historical park that IS in MLB The Show 20’s database. We thought it would be interesting to see the teams play in the weird dimensions of the Polo Grounds, plus they play polo in England...

Anyway, enjoy this ersatz London Series.

Here are the sim-standings entering today’s games:

And the league leaders:

Here at BCB, we are going to play simulated games for every game on the Cubs‘ 2020 schedule via MLB The Show 20. This will continue until the actual schedule begins, or we get some clarity on what’s actually going to happen with baseball this year.

Here is the complete BCB Mediacenter where all our BCB simulated games will be located. You can watch previous games which are all archived there, but please note: We won’t have the actual link to the live broadcast of today’s specific game until it starts. At that time, Duane will drop the direct link into the comments to this post around 3 p.m CT. Until then you can use the link in this paragraph as a guide to where to find the game. All of our simulated games will begin at 3 p.m. CT.

Here are today’s particulars.

This is Game 71 of the 2020 season, Cubs vs. Cardinals in London, England, the first of a two-game series. The Cubs enter today with a 50-20 record. The Cardinals are 32-37.

Yu Darvish will start for the Cubs. Jack Flaherty will start for the Cardinals.

Today’s lineups:

Cubs

Rizzo 1B, Bryant 3B, Baez SS, Schwarber LF, Happ CF, Heyward RF, Caratini C, Kipnis 2B, Darvish P

Cardinals

Wong 2B, Thomas CF, Goldschmidt 1B, DeJong SS, Carpenter 3B, Toerner RF, Molina C, O’Neill LF, Flaherty P

There won’t be any traditional-style “recaps” of these games. Duane will post some clips and boxscores in his Cub Tracks and Baseball history unpacked posts the morning after each game, so we can track this simulated season as it unfolds. We’ll post the standings as each day goes by.

A note on the headline here, because I know you’re going to ask: This is a real thread. The game is what is simulated.

Looking to join in on the fun? If so, you can get your own copy of MLB The Show. Here’s where you can order the game.

Enjoy, and discuss amongst yourselves.