Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals preview, Friday 10/1. 7:15 CT

Today’s roster move: Here

Friday notes...

• THE MAGIC NUMBER IS 1: No, not for clinching a playoff spot, silly. One Cubs loss or win by the Twins locks in the No. 7 spot in next year’s draft for the Cubs.
• HAPP-ENINGS: In 41 games since August 13, Ian Happ is hitting .327/.393/.667 (49-for-150) with 10 doubles, a triple and 13 home runs. That’s pretty much MVP-level hitting.
• THE DUFFSTER: Matt Duffy is on a 10-game hitting streak in which he is batting .375/.419/.500 (15-for-40) with five doubles. If he gets a hit in all three remaining games this year he will match Patrick Wisdom and Kris Bryant for the longest hitting streak for any Cubs player in 2021.
• WINS VS. LOSSES: In their 11 wins in September, the Cubs scored 65 runs and allowed 36. In their 15 losses they scored 66 runs... but allowed 127.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Cardinals lineup:

Cory Abbott, RHP vs. Dakota Hudson, RHP

USA TODAY Sports

USA TODAY NETWORK

Cory Abbott has made six relief appearances for the Cubs this year and the results have been... not good: 8.03 ERA, 2.027 WHIP, five HR in 12⅓ innings.

Tonight will be his first MLB start. He’s actually been quite good over his last four starts at Triple-A Iowa: 1.90 ERA, 1.014 WHIP, 28 strikeouts in 23⅔ innings, only one HR allowed and a .171 opponents BA.

Of course, facing the St. Louis Cardinals is a bit different from facing the Omaha Storm Chasers or the St. Paul Saints. Abbott has never faced the Cardinals. Perhaps that will give him an advantage.

Abbott hasn’t pitched since September 22, and threw only 57 pitches that day, so I’d guess Adbert Alzolay will be ready to piggyback for him.

Statcast

Dakota Hudson had Tommy John surgery in late September 2020 and was on the mound pitching against the Cubs last Friday in Wrigley Field, a remarkable comeback in less than a year. He allowed two runs in 3⅔ innings, but by the time he did, the Cardinals were already up by a bajillion runs. (Okay, only six, but you get the point.) Frank Schwindel reached base twice against Hudson, on a double and a HBP.

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

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Cardinals site Viva el Birdos. If you do go there to interact with Cardinals 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 2021 Game Thread procedure will be a bit different than previous years. It will be similar to what we’ve used for Spring Training.

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, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game, including the First Pitch Thread and the overflow thread, as well as the recap when it’s published. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post.

You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread and the overflow thread in the box marked “Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at 90 minutes after the scheduled game time.

Discuss amongst yourselves.