Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers preview, Friday 8/14, 7:15 CT

Friday notes...

• GRANDPA ON A ROLL: David Ross is just the 12th manager in MLB history, and the seventh since 1885, to win at least 13 of his first 16 career games at the helm of a major league club (H/T: Elias Sports Bureau). Ross is the first to do so since Alex Cora went 14-2 with Boston in 2018 and Joe Morgan (not the Joe Morgan from ESPN) went 15-1 with Boston in 1988.
• KEEPING UP WITH HISTORY: The Cubs have matched the 1907 Cubs for the best 16-game start in franchise history at 13-3. This year’s edition will have to win their next three to keep pace with 1907, as that team got to 16-3 before losing.
• THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: The Cubs enter tonight having won their last seven home games dating to July 26. The last time a Cubs team won eight straight home games was September 12-30, 2017.
• WHAT A RELIEF: After a horrendous start, the Cubs bullpen has been better lately, posting a 3.28 ERA (nine earned runs in 24⅔ innings) with a .213 opponent batting average (19-for-89) and a .612 opponent OPS in the team’s last eight games since August 2.
• PATIENCE, PEOPLE! Cubs hitters have averaged 4.21 pitches per plate appearance, tops in the majors ahead of the Indians (4.12) and the Yankees (4.10) … the closest N.L. clubs are Cincinnati (4.05) and St. Louis (4.04 in five games).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Brewers lineup:

Tyler Chatwood, RHP vs. Brandon Woodruff, RHP

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Tyler Chatwood at home, 2020: 12⅔ innings, 0.71 ERA, 0.789 WHIP, 4 walks, 19 strikeouts
Tyler Chatwood on the road, 2020: 2⅓ innings, 30.86 ERA, 4.714 WHIP, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts

Yeah, that’s what I’m going with — Chatwood just can’t pitch on the road this year, but he’s been almost unhittable at home.

Don’t know what happened last time, let’s hope the home version of Chatwood shows up tonight. He made one appearance against the Brewers last year, four innings of relief in the 15-inning game May 11, in which he struck out seven.

This is Brandon Woodruff’s fifth start of 2020, and the other four have been good-to-excellent.

He made one start against the Cubs last year, April 5 in Milwaukee, and allowed four runs in four innings. It was so bad that Daniel Descalso homered off him.

Seriously, Woodruff is a good pitcher and this will be a tough matchup.

I did want to point this out:

Do all Brewers pitchers have to have this look?

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here is a list of providers currently carrying Marquee. It’s also on MLB Network (outside the Cubs and Brewers market territories).

A note on tonight’s MLB Network broadcast:

For the first time in MLB Network history, Greg Amsinger, Dan Plesac, and Harold Reynolds will call an MLB Network Showcase matchup using unique elements from MLB Network’s signature program MLB Tonight when the Milwaukee Brewers visit the Chicago Cubs live at 8:00 p.m. EDT. At different points of the night and in trademark MLB Tonight style, the telecast will shift to a two-box format and whip around to live look-ins of key moments from other games across Major League Baseball. Amsinger, Plesac, and Reynolds, who have been part of the MLB Tonight lineup since 2009, will do rapid demonstrations on key plays from the game in Studio 42, MLB Network’s replica baseball field studio, and they will host in-game interviews with personnel from the Brewers and Cubs throughout the game. MLB Network reporter Jon Morosi will also contribute to the telecast on-site from Wrigley Field.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Brewers site Brew Crew Ball. If you do go there to interact with Brewers 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 2020 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/Date) 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.