Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers preview, Wednesday 5/5, 6:40 CT

Wednesday notes:

• A BIT OF HISTORY: Seven-inning games in doubleheaders began in 2020. Last night’s was the third seven-inning game that had two extra innings (in other words, nine innings total). It was the first in 2021, though, so it was the first that was witnessed by fans. The other two: Yankees 6, Orioles 5, September 4, 2020 and Cardinals 3, Brewers 2, September 14, 2020.
• LOTS OF CUBS: The Cubs have utilized 36 players already this season, tied for the fifth-most in MLB and surpassed only by the Brewers (41 players), Giants (37), Rays (37) and Nationals (37). Breakdown: 15 position players and 21 pitchers.
• KB ON FIRE: Kris Bryant’s last eight hits have gone for extra bases. The last Cub who had more consecutive hits go for extra bases was Jim Edmonds, who had 13 consecutive extra‐base hits in July‐August 2008. (H/T: Elias Sports Bureau)
• JAVY IN EXTRAS:

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Dodgers lineup:

Adbert Alzolay, RHP vs. Walker Buehler, RHP

USA TODAY Sports

USA TODAY NETWORK

Adbert Alzolay had the longest (six innings) and arguably the best start of his MLB career last Thursday against the Braves. That’s a really good sign going forward, I think.

Also, Alzolay’s 4.71 ERA isn’t the best indication of his performance, as five of the 11 runs charged to him scored after he left games due to relief implosions. IMO, his 3.78 FIP and 0.905 WHIP are better indicators of where he is at this moment.

He has never faced the Dodgers or anyone on their active roster. Perhaps that will be to his advantage.

Walker Buehler has gone at least six innings in all five of his starts. That’s only three fewer than the entire Cubs team has this year.

Sigh. Buehler got hit pretty hard by the Reds in his last start, five runs in 6⅓ innings, but he also struck out 10.

Only one Cub has more than six career AB vs. Buehler. That’s Tony Wolters (1-for-17). The rest of the current Cubs are 8-for-31 (.258) against him with one home run (Javier Baez).

That’s all I’ve got here. Not much hope in those admittedly small sample size numbers.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here’s a list of providers currently carrying Marquee. It’s also on ESPN (no blackouts).

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Dodgers site True Blue LA. If you do go there to interact with Dodgers 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.