Chicago Cubs vs. New York Mets preview, Wednesday 4/21, 6:40 CT

Wednesday notes:

• MAYBE THIS WILL HELP: Happy birthday, Joc Pederson! Joc turns 29 today. Pederson has played in five games on his birthday during his big‐league career, batting .550 (11‐for‐20) with three homers and four RBI, including four multi‐hit efforts.
• STILL LOTS OF PITCHES: Cubs hitters are averaging 4.03 pitches per plate appearance, second in the N.L. and fifth in the majors (the Giants lead with 4.12 pitches per plate appearance).
• NO MISCUES: Ian Happ has played 109 straight errorless games in center field dating to June 27, 2018
• WHAT A RELIEF: The Cubs bullpen has struck out 30.1 percent of its batters faced (88 K in 292 batters faced), tops in the N.L. and second in the majors behind the Yankees (31.1).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Mets lineup:

Zach Davies, RHP vs. David Peterson, LHP

USA TODAY Sports

USA TODAY NETWORK

Let’s not talk about Zach Davies’ last two starts, mmm-kay?

Instead, how about Davies’ last start against the Mets, May 5, 2019? Seven innings, two runs. Of course, a lot of the Mets from that game aren’t on the team anymore.

Current Mets are hitting .273 (12-for-44) against Davies with one home run (Kevin Pillar).

That’s all I’ve got. It has to get better. Right? Right?

David Peterson is making his 13th MLB appearance (12th start) tonight. He was the Mets’ No. 1 pick (20th overall) out of the University of Oregon in 2017. He had a pretty good year in 2020, his first in the majors (3.44 ERA, 1.208 WHIP, 1.6 bWAR). In two starts this year, both against the Phillies, he got hit hard in one of them and did much better in the other.

He has never faced the Cubs or anyone on the Cubs’ current roster.

You know how that usually goes.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Mets site Amazin’ Avenue. If you do go there to interact with Mets 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.