Chicago Cubs vs. Atlanta Braves preview, Friday 4/16, 1:20 CT

Today’s roster move: Here

Friday notes:

• JACKIE ROBINSON DAY: Since the Cubs were off Thursday, they will honor Robinson today. All Cubs players will wear No. 42.
• HELLO, OLD FRIEND: The Cubs and Braves didn’t play each other last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, snapping the longest streak of consecutive seasons played by two teams in U.S. professional sports history at 146 campaigns from 1874-2019, including two seasons in the National Association.
• NEED TO FACE MORE LEFTHANDERS: The Cubs are hitting .242 (23-for-95) with an .814 OPS against left-handed pitching, but have just a .135 average (36-for-267) with a .472 OPS against right-handed pitching.
• HBP UPDATE: Since the start of the 2020 season, Cubs hitters lead the majors, having been hit by a pitch 61 times … the Mets are second (54), followed by the Athletics (48).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Braves lineup:

Zach Davies, RHP vs. Kyle Wright, RHP

MLB Photos via Getty Images

MLB Photos via Getty Images

Zach Davies made a start last Saturday in Pittsburgh. Let’s not talk about it, mmmkay?

The last time he faced the Braves was almost four years ago, June 25, 2017, and as you can see, most of those guys aren’t on the Braves now.

Current members of the Braves are 16-for-46 (.348) against Davies with one home run (Pablo Sandoval).

Kyle Wright is making his 2021 season debut after opening the season at the Braves’ alternate site. He was the Braves’ No. 1 pick (fifth overall) in 2017.

Last year he posted a 5.21 ERA and 1.553 WHIP in eight starts.

He has never faced the Cubs or anyone on the current roster who he’ll face today (he has faced Jake Arrieta previously, though).

That probably means a three-hit shutout, right?

On the other hand...

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

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Braves site Talking Chop. If you do go there to interact with Braves 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.