Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals preview, Sunday 10/3, 2:15 CT

Today’s roster move: Here

There is a slight chance of rain in the St. Louis area this afternoon, which could potentially interrupt today’s game. Here’s the local weather forecast and the local radar:

Sunday notes...

• STRIKEOUT WATCH: The Cubs struck out six times Saturday and their season total stands at 1,587, eight short of the MLB record of 1,595, set by the 2019 Tigers. Eight to tie, nine to break the mark. The Cubs currently lead MLB in batter strikeouts in 2021 by 44 over the Marlins.
• WINNING AWAY: The Cubs are 31-49 away from Wrigley Field in 2021. If they can win Sunday afternoon, they would win just one fewer road game than their 2019 counterparts, who were 33-48 on the road.
• HAPP-ENINGS: After the game of August 12, which the Cubs lost to the Brewers 17-4, Ian Happ was hitting .176/.283/.316 (.599 OPS). Since then: .327/.401/.673 (51-for-156) with 10 doubles, a triple and 14 home runs. He’s raised that .599 season OPS to .759, which is remarkable given the number of PA he’s had (532 total).
• THE DUFFSTER: Matt Duffy is on a 12-game hitting streak in which he’s batting .391/.462/.522 (18-for-46) with six doubles. If he gets a hit today he’ll match Frank Schwindel and Kris Bryant for the longest hitting streak by any Cubs player this year. Overall since September 1, Duffy is hitting .337/.388/.537 (32-for-95) with seven doubles and four home runs.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Cardinals lineup:

Alec Mills, RHP vs. Jake Woodford, RHP

Alec Mills was having a pretty good run after being put in the rotation fulltime, but his last seven starts have not been good: 6.93 ERA, 1.487 WHIP, seven HR in 37⅔ innings — and that includes his excellent eight-plus inning scoreless outing against the White Sox August 28.

Mills started against the Cardinals July 19 in St. Louis and the results weren’t good — five runs in four innings, though only one of the runs was earned. He did strike out six that night. Here’s hoping for a solid start so Mills can end his 2021 season on a high note.

Statcast

Jake Woodford has made two starts against the Cubs this year (plus a couple of relief appearances in June). The first was the July 19 game in which he faced Mills. The second was last Sunday in Wrigley Field, where he allowed two runs in 5⅓ innings. Since joining the Cardinals rotation in July, Woodford has a 3.38 ERA and 1.259 WHIP, with only two HR allowed in 37⅓ innings, and this year vs. the Cubs: 3.38 ERA, 1.275 WHIP in 13⅓ innings.

Hopefully the Cubs can get to him this afternoon.

Statcast

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.