Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers preview, Saturday 8/15, 2:20 CT

The Cubs moved this game’s starting time from 7:15 p.m. CT to 2:20 p.m. CT due to “a forecast of inclement weather later in the evening,” per a team press release.

This forecast, though, shows scattered showers and thunderstorms arriving around 3 p.m. Let’s hope they scatter away from the ballpark. You’ll probably need to keep this handy during the game, though.

Notes:

• J-HEY: Including Friday night’s game, in which he was 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored, Jason Heyward is hitting .344 (11-for-32) with two doubles, two homers and 10 RBI in his last 10 games dating to July 31 and has posted a .983 OPS in this span.
• MILLSY: Alec Mills has limited opponents to an average exit velocity of 81.2 miles per hour, the lowest mark for any starting pitcher with multiple outings this season.
• WHAT A RELIEF: After a terrible start this year, the Cubs bullpen has posted a 2.93 ERA (nine earned runs in 27⅔ innings) with a .194 opponent batting average (19-for-98) and a .564 opponent OPS in the team’s last nine games since August 2.
• GREAT STARTS: Cubs starting pitchers lead the majors with a .195 opponent batting average and their 2.75 ERA (31 earned runs in 101⅓ innings) ranks second in the majors behind Cleveland (2.57).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Brewers lineup:

Colin Rea, RHP vs. Adrian Houser, RHP

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Colin Rea, here’s your big chance.

Rea is from Iowa and had success at Triple-A Iowa and I know a number of Iowa-based readers are really rooting for him to succeed.

He was the Padres’ 12th-round pick in 2011. Five years later he was traded to the Marlins in a deal that also sent Andrew Cashner to Miami. Five DAYS after that, after making one start for the Marlins, he was sent back to San Diego for Luis Castillo — you know, the Luis Castillo who’s now a star for the Reds. An injury was involved — here are the details of those deals.

He had Tommy John surgery, missed all of 2017, pitched in the Padres system in 2018 and was released at the end of that season. The Cubs signed him and he had a pretty good year at Iowa in 2019. He’s made two relief appearances so far this year for the Cubs and allowed just one baserunner out of 12 batters faced. Today will be his first MLB start since that one appearance for the Marlins more than four years ago.

He’s never faced the Brewers and among current Brewers, only Jedd Gyorko (3-for-7, a home run) has more than three at-bats against him. Rea threw 33 pitches against the Indians on Tuesday and perhaps he could throw 60 or so today.

Adrian Houser has made three starts this season. Two were very good, the other not so much.

Last year, he made three relief appearances and two starts against the Cubs and overall posted a 5.93 ERA and 1.463 WHIP against them, with three home runs allowed in 14⅓ innings. Current Cubs are hitting a small sample size .327 (16-for-49) against him and the home runs were hit by Kris Bryant, Jason Heyward and Kyle Schwarber.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here is a list of providers currently carrying Marquee.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

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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.